hledger 1.52.1 → 1.52.2
raw patch · 11 files changed
+11374/−11328 lines, 11 filesdep ~hledger-lib
Dependency ranges changed: hledger-lib
Files
- CHANGES.md +4/−0
- embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 +2/−2
- embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info +17/−17
- embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt +2/−2
- embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 +2/−2
- embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info +10/−10
- embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt +2/−2
- embeddedfiles/hledger.1 +32/−16
- embeddedfiles/hledger.info +440/−428
- embeddedfiles/hledger.txt +10853/−10839
- hledger.cabal +10/−10
CHANGES.md view
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ User-visible changes in the hledger command line tool and library. +# 1.52.2 2026-08-24+++ # 1.52.1 2026-04-28 Breaking changes
embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.1 view
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER\-UI" "1" "March 2026" "hledger-ui-1.52 " "hledger User Manuals"+.TH "HLEDGER\-UI" "1" "March 2026" "hledger-ui-1.52.1 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ .PD \f[CR]hledger ui [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]\f[R] .SH DESCRIPTION-This manual is for hledger\(aqs terminal interface, version 1.52.+This manual is for hledger\(aqs terminal interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. .PP hledger is a robust, user\-friendly, cross\-platform set of programs for
embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.info view
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ or 'hledger ui [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]' - This manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.52. See+ This manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs@@ -555,22 +555,22 @@ Tag Table: Node: Top221-Node: OPTIONS1867-Node: MOUSE8751-Node: KEYS9083-Node: SCREENS14267-Node: Menu screen15007-Node: Cash accounts screen15323-Node: Balance sheet accounts screen15684-Node: Income statement accounts screen16020-Node: All accounts screen16405-Node: Register screen16768-Node: Transaction screen19211-Node: Error screen20391-Node: WATCH MODE20757-Node: --watch problems21655-Node: ENVIRONMENT22902-Node: BUGS23135+Node: OPTIONS1869+Node: MOUSE8753+Node: KEYS9085+Node: SCREENS14269+Node: Menu screen15009+Node: Cash accounts screen15325+Node: Balance sheet accounts screen15686+Node: Income statement accounts screen16022+Node: All accounts screen16407+Node: Register screen16770+Node: Transaction screen19213+Node: Error screen20393+Node: WATCH MODE20759+Node: --watch problems21657+Node: ENVIRONMENT22904+Node: BUGS23137 End Tag Table
embeddedfiles/hledger-ui.txt view
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ hledger ui [OPTS] [QUERYARGS] DESCRIPTION- This manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.52. See also+ This manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs for@@ -447,4 +447,4 @@ SEE ALSO hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) -hledger-ui-1.52 March 2026 HLEDGER-UI(1)+hledger-ui-1.52.1 March 2026 HLEDGER-UI(1)
embeddedfiles/hledger-web.1 view
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ -.TH "HLEDGER\-WEB" "1" "March 2026" "hledger-web-1.52 " "hledger User Manuals"+.TH "HLEDGER\-WEB" "1" "March 2026" "hledger-web-1.52.1 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ .PD \f[CR]hledger web [OPTS] [QUERY]\f[R] .SH DESCRIPTION-This manual is for hledger\(aqs web interface, version 1.52.+This manual is for hledger\(aqs web interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. .PP hledger is a robust, user\-friendly, cross\-platform set of programs for
embeddedfiles/hledger-web.info view
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ or 'hledger web [OPTS] [QUERY]' - This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.52. See also+ This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs@@ -528,15 +528,15 @@ Tag Table: Node: Top223-Node: OPTIONS2575-Node: PERMISSIONS11473-Node: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING12623-Node: RELOADING13638-Node: JSON API14205-Node: DEBUG OUTPUT19854-Node: Debug output20006-Node: ENVIRONMENT20524-Node: BUGS20760+Node: OPTIONS2577+Node: PERMISSIONS11475+Node: EDITING UPLOADING DOWNLOADING12625+Node: RELOADING13640+Node: JSON API14207+Node: DEBUG OUTPUT19856+Node: Debug output20008+Node: ENVIRONMENT20526+Node: BUGS20762 End Tag Table
embeddedfiles/hledger-web.txt view
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ hledger web [OPTS] [QUERY] DESCRIPTION- This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.52. See also the+ This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.52.1. See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats. hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs for@@ -470,4 +470,4 @@ SEE ALSO hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1) -hledger-web-1.52 March 2026 HLEDGER-WEB(1)+hledger-web-1.52.1 March 2026 HLEDGER-WEB(1)
embeddedfiles/hledger.1 view
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ .\"t -.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "March 2026" "hledger-1.52 " "hledger User Manuals"+.TH "HLEDGER" "1" "August 2026" "hledger-1.52.1 " "hledger User Manuals" @@ -17,9 +17,6 @@ .P .PD \f[CR]hledger COMMAND [OPTS] [ARGS]\f[R]-.PD 0-.P-.PD .SH DESCRIPTION hledger is a robust, user\-friendly, cross\-platform set of programs for tracking money, time, or any other commodity, using double\-entry@@ -27,7 +24,7 @@ hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1), and largely interconvertible with beancount(1). .PP-This manual is for hledger\(aqs command line interface, version 1.52.+This manual is for hledger\(aqs command line interface, version 1.52.1. It also describes the common options, file formats and concepts used by all hledger programs. It might accidentally teach you some bookkeeping/accounting as well!@@ -2195,7 +2192,7 @@ So in principle you could enable both \f[CR]\-\-infer\-equity\f[R] and \f[CR]\-\-infer\-costs\f[R] in your config file, and your reports would have the advantages of both.-.SS Cost basis / lot syntax+.SS Cost basis If you are buying some commodity to hold as an investment, it may be important to keep track of .IP "1." 3@@ -2209,16 +2206,17 @@ .PP In hledger we call these three the \(dqcost basis\(dq; and if an amount being acquired has a cost basis, we call it a \(dqlot\(dq.-Tax authorities often require that lots are tracked carefully and+Tax authorities sometimes require that lots are tracked in detail and disposed of (sold) in a certain order. .PP Note, though \(dqcost basis\(dq sounds similar to the \(dqcost\(dq (transacted price) discussed above, they are distinct concepts. In some transactions the transacted price and basis cost are the same, but in others they are not.+So cost basis is recorded with its own syntax, called \(dqcost basis+annotations\(dq. .PP-So cost basis has its own syntax, also called \(dqlot syntax\(dq.-hledger\(aqs lot syntax is like Ledger\(aqs: one or more of the+hledger 1.x supports Ledger\-style cost basis syntax: one or more of the following annotations, following the main amount: .IP \(bu 2 \f[CR]{LOTUNITCOST}\f[R] or \f[CR]{{LOTTOTALCOST}}\f[R] (see lot price)@@ -2227,13 +2225,18 @@ .IP \(bu 2 \f[CR](LOTLABEL)\f[R] (see lot note) .PP-hledger does not yet do anything with this lot syntax, except to-preserve it and show it in \f[CR]print\f[R]\(aqs \f[CR]txt\f[R],-\f[CR]beancount\f[R], and \f[CR]json\f[R] output.-This means you can use this syntax in your hledger journals (plus an+hledger 1 does not provide automated lot/gains tracking, and ignores+these cost basis annotations.+But it will preserve and show them in \f[CR]print\f[R]\(aqs+\f[CR]txt\f[R], \f[CR]beancount\f[R], and \f[CR]json\f[R] output.+This means you can use this syntax in your journal (perhaps with an amountless extra posting to help transactions balance, if needed), then-use the \f[CR]print\f[R] command to export to Ledger or Beancount or-rustledger, to use their lots/gains reports (see Export Lots workflow).+export to Ledger or Beancount or rustledger to do lots/gains reporting.+See Export Lots workflow.+.PP+(hledger 2.x has lots/gains reporting built in.+It also supports a more convenient Beancount\-like+\f[CR]{DATE, \(dqLABEL\(dq, COST}\f[R] syntax.) .SS Balance assertions hledger supports Ledger\-style balance assertions in journal files. These look like, for example, \f[CR]= EXPECTEDBALANCE\f[R] following a@@ -3143,15 +3146,28 @@ T}@T{ capital gains/losses (subtype of Revenue) T}+T{+\f[CR]UnrealisedGain\f[R]+T}@T{+\f[CR]U\f[R]+T}@T{+accumulated unrealised capital gains/losses (subtype of Equity)+T} .TE .PP As a convenience, hledger will detect most of these types automatically from english account names.+(All except Gain and UnrealisedGain, which must be declared explicitly.) But it\(aqs better to declare them explicitly by adding a \f[CR]type:\f[R] tag in the account directives. The tag\(aqs value can be any of the types or one\-letter abbreviations above. .PP+hledger 1 does nothing special with \f[CR]Gain\f[R] and+\f[CR]UnrealisedGain\f[R] accounts; they are supported mainly so that+journals written for hledger 2 (which uses them for lot/gain tracking)+can be read without errors.+.PP Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will inherit their parent\(aqs type, or can override it: .IP@@ -3167,7 +3183,7 @@ account equity:conversion ; type: V -account revenues:capital ; type: G+account revenues:gains ; type: G .EE .PP This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and
embeddedfiles/hledger.info view
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ and largely compatible with ledger(1), and largely interconvertible with beancount(1). - This manual is for hledger's command line interface, version 1.52.+ This manual is for hledger's command line interface, version 1.52.1. It also describes the common options, file formats and concepts used by all hledger programs. It might accidentally teach you some bookkeeping/accounting as well! You don't need to know everything in@@ -1395,7 +1395,7 @@ * Account names:: * Amounts:: * Costs::-* Cost basis / lot syntax::+* Cost basis:: * Balance assertions:: * Posting comments:: * Transaction balancing::@@ -2077,7 +2077,7 @@ style below. -File: hledger.info, Node: Costs, Next: Cost basis / lot syntax, Prev: Amounts, Up: Journal+File: hledger.info, Node: Costs, Next: Cost basis, Prev: Amounts, Up: Journal 8.12 Costs ==========@@ -2178,10 +2178,10 @@ advantages of both. -File: hledger.info, Node: Cost basis / lot syntax, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Costs, Up: Journal+File: hledger.info, Node: Cost basis, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Costs, Up: Journal -8.13 Cost basis / lot syntax-============================+8.13 Cost basis+=============== If you are buying some commodity to hold as an investment, it may be important to keep track of@@ -2194,32 +2194,35 @@ In hledger we call these three the "cost basis"; and if an amount being acquired has a cost basis, we call it a "lot". Tax authorities-often require that lots are tracked carefully and disposed of (sold) in-a certain order.+sometimes require that lots are tracked in detail and disposed of (sold)+in a certain order. Note, though "cost basis" sounds similar to the "cost" (transacted price) discussed above, they are distinct concepts. In some transactions the transacted price and basis cost are the same, but in-others they are not.+others they are not. So cost basis is recorded with its own syntax,+called "cost basis annotations". - So cost basis has its own syntax, also called "lot syntax".-hledger's lot syntax is like Ledger's: one or more of the following-annotations, following the main amount:+ hledger 1.x supports Ledger-style cost basis syntax: one or more of+the following annotations, following the main amount: * '{LOTUNITCOST}' or '{{LOTTOTALCOST}}' (see lot price) * '[LOTDATE]' (see lot date) * '(LOTLABEL)' (see lot note) - hledger does not yet do anything with this lot syntax, except to-preserve it and show it in 'print''s 'txt', 'beancount', and 'json'-output. This means you can use this syntax in your hledger journals-(plus an amountless extra posting to help transactions balance, if-needed), then use the 'print' command to export to Ledger or Beancount-or rustledger, to use their lots/gains reports (see Export Lots-workflow).+ hledger 1 does not provide automated lot/gains tracking, and ignores+these cost basis annotations. But it will preserve and show them in+'print''s 'txt', 'beancount', and 'json' output. This means you can use+this syntax in your journal (perhaps with an amountless extra posting to+help transactions balance, if needed), then export to Ledger or+Beancount or rustledger to do lots/gains reporting. See Export Lots+workflow. + (hledger 2.x has lots/gains reporting built in. It also supports a+more convenient Beancount-like '{DATE, "LABEL", COST}' syntax.)+ -File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Posting comments, Prev: Cost basis / lot syntax, Up: Journal+File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Posting comments, Prev: Cost basis, Up: Journal 8.14 Balance assertions =======================@@ -2973,12 +2976,21 @@ Equity) 'Gain' 'G' capital gains/losses (subtype of Revenue)+'UnrealisedGain' 'U' accumulated unrealised+ capital gains/losses+ (subtype of Equity) As a convenience, hledger will detect most of these types-automatically from english account names. But it's better to declare-them explicitly by adding a 'type:' tag in the account directives. The-tag's value can be any of the types or one-letter abbreviations above.+automatically from english account names. (All except Gain and+UnrealisedGain, which must be declared explicitly.) But it's better to+declare them explicitly by adding a 'type:' tag in the account+directives. The tag's value can be any of the types or one-letter+abbreviations above. + hledger 1 does nothing special with 'Gain' and 'UnrealisedGain'+accounts; they are supported mainly so that journals written for hledger+2 (which uses them for lot/gain tracking) can be read without errors.+ Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will inherit their parent's type, or can override it: @@ -2993,7 +3005,7 @@ account equity:conversion ; type: V -account revenues:capital ; type: G+account revenues:gains ; type: G This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and incomestatement reports, and querying by type:.@@ -13486,410 +13498,410 @@ Tag Table: Node: Top208-Node: PART 1 USER INTERFACE4090-Node: Input4229-Node: Text encoding5321-Node: Data formats6070-Node: Standard input7804-Node: Multiple files8193-Node: Strict mode8930-Node: Commands9764-Node: Add-on commands11046-Node: Options12097-Node: Special characters19247-Node: Escaping shell special characters20237-Node: Escaping regular expression special characters21596-Node: Escaping in other situations23111-Node: Unicode characters24259-Node: Regular expressions25680-Node: hledger's regular expressions28939-Node: Argument files30610-Node: Config files31507-Node: Shell completions34776-Node: Output35265-Node: Output destination35456-Node: Output format36014-Node: Text output37800-Node: Box-drawing characters38784-Node: Colour39284-Node: Paging39870-Node: HTML output41411-Node: CSV / TSV output41829-Node: FODS output42083-Node: Beancount output42887-Node: Beancount account names44388-Node: Beancount commodity names44929-Node: Beancount virtual postings45576-Node: Beancount metadata45892-Node: Beancount costs46672-Node: Beancount operating currency47088-Node: SQL output47538-Node: JSON output48329-Node: Commodity styles49146-Node: Debug output50156-Node: Environment50988-Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS52157-Node: Journal52300-Node: Journal cheatsheet54803-Node: Comments61054-Node: Transactions61998-Node: Dates63135-Node: Simple dates63287-Node: Posting dates63903-Node: Status65076-Node: Code66842-Node: Description67461-Node: Payee and note68148-Node: Transaction comments69239-Node: Postings69755-Node: Debits and credits71071-Node: Account names71630-Node: Two space delimiter72587-Node: Account hierarchy73992-Node: Other account name features74875-Node: Amounts75293-Node: Decimal marks76299-Node: Digit group marks77403-Node: Commodity78038-Node: Costs79141-Node: Cost basis / lot syntax82710-Node: Balance assertions84373-Node: Assertions and ordering85637-Node: Assertions and multiple files86356-Node: Assertions and costs87524-Node: Assertions and commodities88171-Node: Assertions and subaccounts89830-Node: Assertions and status90490-Node: Assertions and virtual postings90910-Node: Assertions and auto postings91275-Node: Assertions and precision92150-Node: Assertions and hledger add92634-Node: Posting comments93382-Node: Transaction balancing93922-Node: Tags96130-Node: Tag propagation97649-Node: Displaying tags99148-Node: When to use tags ?99541-Node: Tag names100205-Node: Directives102204-Node: Directives and multiple files103661-Node: Directive effects104606-Node: account directive107762-Node: Account comments109229-Node: Account tags109816-Node: Account error checking110225-Node: Account display order111758-Node: Account types112956-Node: alias directive116660-Node: Basic aliases117871-Node: Regex aliases118746-Node: Combining aliases119793-Node: Aliases and multiple files121247-Node: end aliases directive122030-Node: Aliases can generate bad account names122398-Node: Aliases and account types123231-Node: commodity directive124123-Node: Commodity directive syntax125935-Node: Commodity tags127501-Node: Commodity error checking127979-Node: decimal-mark directive128442-Node: include directive129021-Node: P directive131244-Node: payee directive132278-Node: tag directive132903-Node: Periodic transactions133518-Node: Periodic rule syntax135672-Node: Periodic rules and relative dates136495-Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!137272-Node: Auto postings138233-Node: Auto postings and multiple files141519-Node: Auto postings and dates141924-Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions142365-Node: Auto posting tags143211-Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only144106-Node: Other syntax144576-Node: Balance assignments145393-Node: Balance assignments and costs146921-Node: Balance assignments and multiple files147343-Node: Bracketed posting dates147766-Node: D directive148464-Node: apply account directive150240-Node: Y directive151107-Node: Secondary dates152098-Node: Star comments153583-Node: Valuation expressions154275-Node: Virtual postings154574-Node: Other Ledger directives156198-Node: Ledger virtual costs156956-Node: Ledger lot syntax157298-Node: Ledger fixed lot costs158151-Node: CSV159721-Node: CSV rules cheatsheet161921-Node: source164219-Node: Data cleaning / data generating commands165623-Node: archive167522-Node: encoding168450-Node: separator169493-Node: skip170146-Node: date-format170796-Node: timezone171741-Node: newest-first172867-Node: intra-day-reversed173580-Node: decimal-mark174182-Node: CSV fields and hledger fields174680-Node: fields list176556-Node: Field assignment178381-Node: Field names179600-Node: date field180932-Node: date2 field181096-Node: status field181291-Node: code field181481-Node: description field181669-Node: comment field181886-Node: account field182443-Node: amount field183161-Node: currency field186000-Node: balance field186408-Node: if block186931-Node: Matchers188458-Node: Multiple matchers190361-Node: Match groups191169-Node: if table192062-Node: balance-type194125-Node: include194952-Node: Working with CSV195521-Node: Rapid feedback196110-Node: Valid CSV196693-Node: File Extension197569-Node: Reading CSV from standard input198304-Node: Reading multiple CSV files198690-Node: Reading files specified by rule199166-Node: Valid transactions200563-Node: Deduplicating importing201388-Node: Regular expressions in CSV rules202634-Node: Setting amounts204126-Node: Amount signs206664-Node: Setting currency/commodity207729-Node: Amount decimal places209105-Node: Referencing other fields210362-Node: How CSV rules are evaluated211470-Node: Well factored rules214187-Node: CSV rules examples214677-Node: Bank of Ireland214875-Node: Coinbase216472-Node: Amazon217655-Node: Paypal219497-Node: Timeclock227247-Node: Timedot231300-Node: Timedot examples234777-Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS237054-Node: Time periods237218-Node: Report start & end date237491-Node: Smart dates238967-Node: Report intervals241338-Node: Date adjustments241912-Node: Start date adjustment242132-Node: End date adjustment243035-Node: Period headings243816-Node: Period expressions244749-Node: Period expressions with a report interval246654-Node: More complex report intervals247102-Node: Multiple weekday intervals249218-Node: Depth250229-Node: Combining depth options251215-Node: Queries252165-Node: Query types254867-Node: acct query255242-Node: amt query255553-Node: code query256250-Node: cur query256445-Node: desc query257051-Node: date query257234-Node: date2 query257848-Node: depth query258189-Node: note query258525-Node: payee query258791-Node: real query259072-Node: status query259277-Node: type query259517-Node: tag query260075-Node: Negative queries260704-Node: not query260886-Node: Space-separated queries261173-Node: Boolean queries261861-Node: expr query263179-Node: any query263859-Node: all query264312-Node: Queries and command options264894-Node: Queries and account aliases265342-Node: Queries and valuation265667-Node: Pivoting266029-Node: Generating data268312-Node: Forecasting270112-Node: --forecast270768-Node: Inspecting forecast transactions271869-Node: Forecast reports273202-Node: Forecast tags274311-Node: Forecast period in detail274931-Node: Forecast troubleshooting276019-Node: Budgeting277090-Node: Amount formatting277650-Node: Commodity display style277894-Node: Rounding279735-Node: Trailing decimal marks280340-Node: Amount parseability281273-Node: Cost reporting282882-Node: Recording costs283713-Node: Reporting at cost285440-Node: Equity conversion postings286205-Node: Inferring equity conversion postings288850-Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings290096-Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings291321-Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?292843-Node: Value reporting293280-Node: -X Value in specified commodity294238-Node: -V Value in default commoditys295098-Node: Valuation date295835-Node: Finding market price296667-Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions298047-Node: Valuation commodity301091-Node: --value Flexible valuation302524-Node: Valuation examples304367-Node: Interaction of valuation and queries306511-Node: Effect of valuation on reports307228-Node: PART 4 COMMANDS315078-Node: Help commands317867-Node: commands318053-Node: demo318261-Node: help319354-Node: User interface commands321059-Node: repl321270-Node: Examples323534-Node: run324092-Node: Examples 2326507-Node: ui327531-Node: web327668-Node: Data entry commands327796-Node: add328057-Node: add and balance assertions330991-Node: add and balance assignments331565-Node: import332258-Node: Import dry run333337-Node: Overlap detection334285-Node: First import337171-Node: Importing balance assignments338366-Node: Import and commodity styles339421-Node: Import archiving339855-Node: Import special cases340680-Node: Deduplication340898-Node: Varying file name341389-Node: Multiple versions341773-Node: Basic report commands342880-Node: accounts343181-Node: codes345693-Node: commodities346715-Node: descriptions347723-Node: files348183-Node: notes348480-Node: payees348992-Node: prices350149-Node: stats351041-Node: tags353099-Node: Standard report commands354923-Node: print355228-Node: print amount explicitness357959-Node: print alignment358897-Node: print amount style359211-Node: print parseability360441-Node: print other features361718-Node: print output format362680-Node: aregister365965-Node: aregister and posting dates370492-Node: register371393-Node: Custom register output379114-Node: balancesheet380299-Node: balancesheetequity385264-Node: cashflow390599-Node: incomestatement395412-Node: Advanced report commands400261-Node: balance400469-Node: balance features405890-Node: Simple balance report407993-Node: Balance report line format409803-Node: Filtered balance report412163-Node: List or tree mode412682-Node: Depth limiting414195-Node: Dropping top-level accounts414962-Node: Showing declared accounts415472-Node: Sorting by amount416202-Node: Percentages417056-Node: Multi-period balance report417763-Node: Balance change end balance420515-Node: Balance report modes422152-Node: Calculation mode422831-Node: Accumulation mode423535-Node: Valuation mode424636-Node: Combining balance report modes425980-Node: Budget report428010-Node: Using the budget report430310-Node: Budget date surprises432586-Node: Selecting budget goals433950-Node: Budgeting vs forecasting434898-Node: Balance report layout436575-Node: Wide layout437780-Node: Tall layout440185-Node: Bare layout441491-Node: Tidy layout443555-Node: Balance report output445099-Node: Some useful balance reports445873-Node: roi447133-Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl449380-Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl450106-Node: IRR and TWR explained452193-Node: Chart commands455604-Node: activity455785-Node: Data generation commands456282-Node: close456488-Node: close --clopen459553-Node: close --close461449-Node: close --open461973-Node: close --assert462223-Node: close --assign462550-Node: close --retain463229-Node: close customisation464086-Node: close and balance assertions465764-Node: close examples467286-Node: Retain earnings467523-Node: Migrate balances to a new file468026-Node: More detailed close examples469388-Node: rewrite469610-Node: Re-write rules in a file472170-Node: Diff output format473471-Node: rewrite vs print --auto474741-Node: Maintenance commands475455-Node: check475674-Node: Basic checks476757-Node: Strict checks477823-Node: Other checks478696-Node: Custom checks480398-Node: diff480837-Node: setup482045-Node: test484912-Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS485815-Node: Getting help486264-Node: Constructing command lines487165-Node: Starting a journal file488030-Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE489434-Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix489722-Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac490241-Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows490971-Node: Setting opening balances492876-Node: Recording transactions496218-Node: Reconciling496963-Node: Reporting499372-Node: Migrating to a new file503506-Node: BUGS503962-Node: Troubleshooting504788+Node: PART 1 USER INTERFACE4092+Node: Input4231+Node: Text encoding5323+Node: Data formats6072+Node: Standard input7806+Node: Multiple files8195+Node: Strict mode8932+Node: Commands9766+Node: Add-on commands11048+Node: Options12099+Node: Special characters19249+Node: Escaping shell special characters20239+Node: Escaping regular expression special characters21598+Node: Escaping in other situations23113+Node: Unicode characters24261+Node: Regular expressions25682+Node: hledger's regular expressions28941+Node: Argument files30612+Node: Config files31509+Node: Shell completions34778+Node: Output35267+Node: Output destination35458+Node: Output format36016+Node: Text output37802+Node: Box-drawing characters38786+Node: Colour39286+Node: Paging39872+Node: HTML output41413+Node: CSV / TSV output41831+Node: FODS output42085+Node: Beancount output42889+Node: Beancount account names44390+Node: Beancount commodity names44931+Node: Beancount virtual postings45578+Node: Beancount metadata45894+Node: Beancount costs46674+Node: Beancount operating currency47090+Node: SQL output47540+Node: JSON output48331+Node: Commodity styles49148+Node: Debug output50158+Node: Environment50990+Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS52159+Node: Journal52302+Node: Journal cheatsheet54792+Node: Comments61043+Node: Transactions61987+Node: Dates63124+Node: Simple dates63276+Node: Posting dates63892+Node: Status65065+Node: Code66831+Node: Description67450+Node: Payee and note68137+Node: Transaction comments69228+Node: Postings69744+Node: Debits and credits71060+Node: Account names71619+Node: Two space delimiter72576+Node: Account hierarchy73981+Node: Other account name features74864+Node: Amounts75282+Node: Decimal marks76288+Node: Digit group marks77392+Node: Commodity78027+Node: Costs79130+Node: Cost basis82686+Node: Balance assertions84497+Node: Assertions and ordering85748+Node: Assertions and multiple files86467+Node: Assertions and costs87635+Node: Assertions and commodities88282+Node: Assertions and subaccounts89941+Node: Assertions and status90601+Node: Assertions and virtual postings91021+Node: Assertions and auto postings91386+Node: Assertions and precision92261+Node: Assertions and hledger add92745+Node: Posting comments93493+Node: Transaction balancing94033+Node: Tags96241+Node: Tag propagation97760+Node: Displaying tags99259+Node: When to use tags ?99652+Node: Tag names100316+Node: Directives102315+Node: Directives and multiple files103772+Node: Directive effects104717+Node: account directive107873+Node: Account comments109340+Node: Account tags109927+Node: Account error checking110336+Node: Account display order111869+Node: Account types113067+Node: alias directive117270+Node: Basic aliases118481+Node: Regex aliases119356+Node: Combining aliases120403+Node: Aliases and multiple files121857+Node: end aliases directive122640+Node: Aliases can generate bad account names123008+Node: Aliases and account types123841+Node: commodity directive124733+Node: Commodity directive syntax126545+Node: Commodity tags128111+Node: Commodity error checking128589+Node: decimal-mark directive129052+Node: include directive129631+Node: P directive131854+Node: payee directive132888+Node: tag directive133513+Node: Periodic transactions134128+Node: Periodic rule syntax136282+Node: Periodic rules and relative dates137105+Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!137882+Node: Auto postings138843+Node: Auto postings and multiple files142129+Node: Auto postings and dates142534+Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions142975+Node: Auto posting tags143821+Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only144716+Node: Other syntax145186+Node: Balance assignments146003+Node: Balance assignments and costs147531+Node: Balance assignments and multiple files147953+Node: Bracketed posting dates148376+Node: D directive149074+Node: apply account directive150850+Node: Y directive151717+Node: Secondary dates152708+Node: Star comments154193+Node: Valuation expressions154885+Node: Virtual postings155184+Node: Other Ledger directives156808+Node: Ledger virtual costs157566+Node: Ledger lot syntax157908+Node: Ledger fixed lot costs158761+Node: CSV160331+Node: CSV rules cheatsheet162531+Node: source164829+Node: Data cleaning / data generating commands166233+Node: archive168132+Node: encoding169060+Node: separator170103+Node: skip170756+Node: date-format171406+Node: timezone172351+Node: newest-first173477+Node: intra-day-reversed174190+Node: decimal-mark174792+Node: CSV fields and hledger fields175290+Node: fields list177166+Node: Field assignment178991+Node: Field names180210+Node: date field181542+Node: date2 field181706+Node: status field181901+Node: code field182091+Node: description field182279+Node: comment field182496+Node: account field183053+Node: amount field183771+Node: currency field186610+Node: balance field187018+Node: if block187541+Node: Matchers189068+Node: Multiple matchers190971+Node: Match groups191779+Node: if table192672+Node: balance-type194735+Node: include195562+Node: Working with CSV196131+Node: Rapid feedback196720+Node: Valid CSV197303+Node: File Extension198179+Node: Reading CSV from standard input198914+Node: Reading multiple CSV files199300+Node: Reading files specified by rule199776+Node: Valid transactions201173+Node: Deduplicating importing201998+Node: Regular expressions in CSV rules203244+Node: Setting amounts204736+Node: Amount signs207274+Node: Setting currency/commodity208339+Node: Amount decimal places209715+Node: Referencing other fields210972+Node: How CSV rules are evaluated212080+Node: Well factored rules214797+Node: CSV rules examples215287+Node: Bank of Ireland215485+Node: Coinbase217082+Node: Amazon218265+Node: Paypal220107+Node: Timeclock227857+Node: Timedot231910+Node: Timedot examples235387+Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS237664+Node: Time periods237828+Node: Report start & end date238101+Node: Smart dates239577+Node: Report intervals241948+Node: Date adjustments242522+Node: Start date adjustment242742+Node: End date adjustment243645+Node: Period headings244426+Node: Period expressions245359+Node: Period expressions with a report interval247264+Node: More complex report intervals247712+Node: Multiple weekday intervals249828+Node: Depth250839+Node: Combining depth options251825+Node: Queries252775+Node: Query types255477+Node: acct query255852+Node: amt query256163+Node: code query256860+Node: cur query257055+Node: desc query257661+Node: date query257844+Node: date2 query258458+Node: depth query258799+Node: note query259135+Node: payee query259401+Node: real query259682+Node: status query259887+Node: type query260127+Node: tag query260685+Node: Negative queries261314+Node: not query261496+Node: Space-separated queries261783+Node: Boolean queries262471+Node: expr query263789+Node: any query264469+Node: all query264922+Node: Queries and command options265504+Node: Queries and account aliases265952+Node: Queries and valuation266277+Node: Pivoting266639+Node: Generating data268922+Node: Forecasting270722+Node: --forecast271378+Node: Inspecting forecast transactions272479+Node: Forecast reports273812+Node: Forecast tags274921+Node: Forecast period in detail275541+Node: Forecast troubleshooting276629+Node: Budgeting277700+Node: Amount formatting278260+Node: Commodity display style278504+Node: Rounding280345+Node: Trailing decimal marks280950+Node: Amount parseability281883+Node: Cost reporting283492+Node: Recording costs284323+Node: Reporting at cost286050+Node: Equity conversion postings286815+Node: Inferring equity conversion postings289460+Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings290706+Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings291931+Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?293453+Node: Value reporting293890+Node: -X Value in specified commodity294848+Node: -V Value in default commoditys295708+Node: Valuation date296445+Node: Finding market price297277+Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions298657+Node: Valuation commodity301701+Node: --value Flexible valuation303134+Node: Valuation examples304977+Node: Interaction of valuation and queries307121+Node: Effect of valuation on reports307838+Node: PART 4 COMMANDS315688+Node: Help commands318477+Node: commands318663+Node: demo318871+Node: help319964+Node: User interface commands321669+Node: repl321880+Node: Examples324144+Node: run324702+Node: Examples 2327117+Node: ui328141+Node: web328278+Node: Data entry commands328406+Node: add328667+Node: add and balance assertions331601+Node: add and balance assignments332175+Node: import332868+Node: Import dry run333947+Node: Overlap detection334895+Node: First import337781+Node: Importing balance assignments338976+Node: Import and commodity styles340031+Node: Import archiving340465+Node: Import special cases341290+Node: Deduplication341508+Node: Varying file name341999+Node: Multiple versions342383+Node: Basic report commands343490+Node: accounts343791+Node: codes346303+Node: commodities347325+Node: descriptions348333+Node: files348793+Node: notes349090+Node: payees349602+Node: prices350759+Node: stats351651+Node: tags353709+Node: Standard report commands355533+Node: print355838+Node: print amount explicitness358569+Node: print alignment359507+Node: print amount style359821+Node: print parseability361051+Node: print other features362328+Node: print output format363290+Node: aregister366575+Node: aregister and posting dates371102+Node: register372003+Node: Custom register output379724+Node: balancesheet380909+Node: balancesheetequity385874+Node: cashflow391209+Node: incomestatement396022+Node: Advanced report commands400871+Node: balance401079+Node: balance features406500+Node: Simple balance report408603+Node: Balance report line format410413+Node: Filtered balance report412773+Node: List or tree mode413292+Node: Depth limiting414805+Node: Dropping top-level accounts415572+Node: Showing declared accounts416082+Node: Sorting by amount416812+Node: Percentages417666+Node: Multi-period balance report418373+Node: Balance change end balance421125+Node: Balance report modes422762+Node: Calculation mode423441+Node: Accumulation mode424145+Node: Valuation mode425246+Node: Combining balance report modes426590+Node: Budget report428620+Node: Using the budget report430920+Node: Budget date surprises433196+Node: Selecting budget goals434560+Node: Budgeting vs forecasting435508+Node: Balance report layout437185+Node: Wide layout438390+Node: Tall layout440795+Node: Bare layout442101+Node: Tidy layout444165+Node: Balance report output445709+Node: Some useful balance reports446483+Node: roi447743+Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl449990+Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl450716+Node: IRR and TWR explained452803+Node: Chart commands456214+Node: activity456395+Node: Data generation commands456892+Node: close457098+Node: close --clopen460163+Node: close --close462059+Node: close --open462583+Node: close --assert462833+Node: close --assign463160+Node: close --retain463839+Node: close customisation464696+Node: close and balance assertions466374+Node: close examples467896+Node: Retain earnings468133+Node: Migrate balances to a new file468636+Node: More detailed close examples469998+Node: rewrite470220+Node: Re-write rules in a file472780+Node: Diff output format474081+Node: rewrite vs print --auto475351+Node: Maintenance commands476065+Node: check476284+Node: Basic checks477367+Node: Strict checks478433+Node: Other checks479306+Node: Custom checks481008+Node: diff481447+Node: setup482655+Node: test485522+Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS486425+Node: Getting help486874+Node: Constructing command lines487775+Node: Starting a journal file488640+Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE490044+Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix490332+Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac490851+Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows491581+Node: Setting opening balances493486+Node: Recording transactions496828+Node: Reconciling497573+Node: Reporting499982+Node: Migrating to a new file504116+Node: BUGS504572+Node: Troubleshooting505398 End Tag Table
embeddedfiles/hledger.txt view
@@ -16,10842 +16,10856 @@ and a simple, editable file format. hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1), and largely interconvertible with beancount(1). - This manual is for hledger's command line interface, version 1.52. It also- describes the common options, file formats and concepts used by all hledger- programs. It might accidentally teach you some bookkeeping/accounting as- well! You don't need to know everything in here to use hledger produc-- tively, but when you have a question about functionality, this doc should- answer it. It is detailed, so do skip ahead or skim when needed. You can- read it on hledger.org, or as an info manual or man page on your system.- You can also open a built-in copy, at a point of interest, by running- hledger --man [CMD], hledger --info [CMD] or hledger help [TOPIC].-- (And for shorter help, try hledger --tldr [CMD].)-- The main function of the hledger CLI is to read plain text files describing- financial transactions, crunch the numbers, and print a useful report on- the terminal (or save it as HTML, CSV, JSON or SQL). Many reports are- available, as subcommands. hledger will also detect other hledger-* exe-- cutables as extra subcommands.-- hledger usually reads from (and appends to) a journal file specified by the- LEDGER_FILE environment variable (defaulting to $HOME/.hledger.journal); or- you can specify files with -f options. It can also read timeclock files,- timedot files, or any CSV/SSV/TSV file with a date field.-- Here is a small journal file describing one transaction:-- 2015-10-16 bought food- expenses:food $10- assets:cash-- Transactions are dated movements of money (etc.) between two or more ac-- counts: bank accounts, your wallet, revenue/expense categories, people,- etc. You can choose any account names you wish, using : to indicate subac-- counts. There must be at least two spaces between account name and amount.- Positive amounts are inflow to that account (debit), negatives are outflow- from it (credit). (Some reports show revenue, liability and equity account- balances as negative numbers as a result; this is normal.)-- hledger's add command can help you add transactions, or you can install- other data entry UIs like hledger-web or hledger-iadd. For more exten-- sive/efficient changes, use a text editor: Emacs + ledger-mode, VIM +- vim-ledger, or VS Code + hledger-vscode are some good choices (see- https://hledger.org/editors.html).-- To get started, run hledger add and follow the prompts, or save some en-- tries like the above in $HOME/.hledger.journal, then try commands like:-- $ hledger print -x- $ hledger aregister assets- $ hledger balance- $ hledger balancesheet- $ hledger incomestatement-- Run hledger to list the commands. See also the "Starting a journal file"- and "Setting opening balances" sections in PART 5: COMMON TASKS.--PART 1: USER INTERFACE-Input- hledger reads one or more data files, each time you run it. You can spec-- ify a file with -f, like so-- $ hledger -f FILE [-f FILE2 ...] print-- Files are most often in hledger's journal format, with the .journal file- extension (.hledger or .j also work); these files describe transactions,- like an accounting general journal.-- When no file is specified, hledger looks for .hledger.journal in your home- directory.-- But most people prefer to keep financial files in a dedicated folder, per-- haps with version control. Also, starting a new journal file each year is- common (it's not required, but helps keep things fast and organised). So- we usually configure a different journal file, by setting the LEDGER_FILE- environment variable, to something like ~/finance/2023.journal. For more- about how to do that on your system, see Common tasks > Setting- LEDGER_FILE.-- Text encoding- hledger expects non-ascii input to be decodable with the system locale's- text encoding. (For CSV/SSV/TSV files, this can be overridden by the en-- coding CSV rule.)-- So, trying to read non-ascii files which have the wrong text encoding, or- when no system locale is configured, will fail. To fix this, configure- your system locale appropriately, and/or convert the files to your system's- text encoding (using iconv on unix, or powershell or notepad on Windows).- See Install: Text encoding for more tips.-- hledger's output will use the system locale's encoding.-- hledger's docs and example files mostly use UTF-8 encoding.-- 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: Automatically used for- files with extensions:- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ journal hledger journal files and some .journal .j .hledger- Ledger journals, for transactions .ledger- timeclock timeclock files, for precise time .timeclock- logging- timedot timedot files, for approximate .timedot- time logging- csv Comma- or other delimiter-sepa- .csv- rated values, for data import- ssv Semicolon separated values .ssv- tsv Tab separated values .tsv- rules CSV/SSV/TSV/other separated val- .rules- ues, alternate way-- These formats are described in more detail below.-- hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions shown- above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes journal for-- mat. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a recognised file ex-- tension, so as to either read successfully or to show relevant error mes-- sages.-- 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 containing tab separated- values:-- $ hledger -f tsv:/some/file.dat stats-- Standard input- The file name - means standard input:-- $ cat FILE | hledger -f- print-- If reading non-journal data in this way, you'll need to write the format as- a prefix, like timeclock: here:-- $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -f timeclock:--- Multiple files- You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big- journal. When doing this, note that certain features (described below)- will be affected:-- * Balance assertions will not see the effect of transactions in previous- files. (Usually this doesn't matter as each file will set the corre-- sponding opening balances.)-- * Some directives will not affect previous or subsequent files.-- If needed, you can work around these by using a single parent file which- includes the others, or concatenating the files into one, eg: cat a.journal- b.journal | hledger -f- CMD.-- 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 ? (Ac-- count error checking)-- * Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity er-- ror checking)-- * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?-- You can use the check command to run individual checks - the ones listed- above and some more.--Commands- hledger provides various subcommands for getting things done. Most of- these commands do not change the journal file; they just read it and output- a report. A few commands assist with adding data and file management.- Some often-used commands are add, print, register, balancesheet and in-- comestatement.-- To show a summary of commands, run hledger with no arguments. You can see- the same commands summary at the start of PART 4: COMMANDS below.-- To use a particular command, run hledger CMD [CMDOPTS] [CMDARGS],-- * CMD is the full command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the- commands list, or any unambiguous prefix of the name.-- * CMDOPTS are command-specific options, if any. Command-specific options- must be written after the command name. Eg: hledger print -x.-- * CMDARGS are additional arguments to the command, if any. Most hledger- commands accept arguments representing a query, to limit the data in some- way. Eg: hledger reg assets:checking.-- To list a command's options, arguments, and documentation in the terminal,- run hledger CMD -h. Eg: hledger bal -h.-- Add-on commands- In addition to the built-in commands, you can install add-on commands,- which will also appear in hledger's commands list. Some of these can be- installed as separate packages; others can be found in hledger's bin/ di-- rectory, documented at https://hledger.org/scripts.html.-- Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your shell's PATH, whose name- starts with "hledger-" and ends with no extension or a recognised extension- (".bat", ".com", ".exe", ".hs", ".js", ".lhs", ".lua", ".php", ".pl",- ".py", ".rb", ".rkt", or ".sh"), and (on unix and mac) which has executable- permission for the current user.-- You can run add-on commands directly: hledger-ui --watch.-- Or you can run them with hledger, like built-in commands: hledger ui- --watch. In this case hledger's config file will be used, so you can set- custom options for the addon there. (Before hledger 1.50, an -- argument- was needed before addon options, but not any more.)--Options- Run hledger -h to see general command line help. Options can be written- either before or after the command name. These options are specific to the- hledger CLI:-- Flags:- --conf=CONFFILE Use extra options defined in this config file. If- not specified, searches upward and in XDG config- dir for hledger.conf (or .hledger.conf in $HOME).- -n --no-conf ignore any config file-- And the following general options are common to most hledger commands:-- General input/data transformation flags:- -f --file=[FMT:]FILE Read data from FILE, or from stdin if FILE is -,- inferring format from extension or a FMT: prefix.- Can be specified more than once. If not specified,- reads from $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal.- --rules=RULESFILE Use rules defined in this rules file for- converting subsequent CSV/SSV/TSV files. If not- specified, uses FILE.csv.rules for each FILE.csv.- --alias=A=B|/RGX/=RPL transform account names from A to B, or by- replacing regular expression matches- --auto generate extra postings by applying auto posting- rules ("=") to all transactions- --forecast[=PERIOD] Generate extra transactions from periodic rules- ("~"), from after the latest ordinary transaction- until 6 months from now. Or, during the specified- PERIOD (the equals is required). Auto posting rules- will also be applied to these transactions. In- hledger-ui, also make future-dated transactions- visible at startup.- -I --ignore-assertions don't check balance assertions by default- --txn-balancing=... how to check that transactions are balanced:- 'old': use global display precision- 'exact': use transaction precision (default)- --infer-costs infer conversion equity postings from costs- --infer-equity infer costs from conversion equity postings- --infer-market-prices infer market prices from costs- --pivot=TAGNAME use a different field or tag as account names- -s --strict do extra error checks (and override -I)- --verbose-tags add tags indicating generated/modified data-- General output/reporting flags (supported by some commands):- -b --begin=DATE include postings/transactions on/after this date- -e --end=DATE include postings/transactions before this date- (with a report interval, will be adjusted to- following subperiod end)- -D --daily multiperiod report with 1 day interval- -W --weekly multiperiod report with 1 week interval- -M --monthly multiperiod report with 1 month interval- -Q --quarterly multiperiod report with 1 quarter interval- -Y --yearly multiperiod report with 1 year interval- -p --period=PERIODEXP set begin date, end date, and/or report interval,- with more flexibility- --today=DATE override today's date (affects relative dates)- --date2 match/use secondary dates instead (deprecated)- -U --unmarked include only unmarked postings/transactions- -P --pending include only pending postings/transactions- -C --cleared include only cleared postings/transactions- (-U/-P/-C can be combined)- -R --real include only non-virtual postings- -E --empty Show zero items, which are normally hidden.- In hledger-ui & hledger-web, do the opposite.- --depth=DEPTHEXP if a number (or -NUM): show only top NUM levels- of accounts. If REGEXP=NUM, only apply limiting to- accounts matching the regular expression.- -B --cost show amounts converted to their cost/sale amount- -V --market Show amounts converted to their value at period- end(s) in their default valuation commodity.- Equivalent to --value=end.- -X --exchange=COMM Show amounts converted to their value at period- end(s) in the specified commodity.- Equivalent to --value=end,COMM.- --value=WHEN[,COMM] show amounts converted to their value on the- specified date(s) in their default valuation- commodity or a specified commodity. WHEN can be:- 'then': value on transaction dates- 'end': value at period end(s)- 'now': value today- YYYY-MM-DD: value on given date- -c --commodity-style=S Override a commodity's display style.- Eg: -c '.' or -c '1.000,00 EUR'- --pretty[=YN] Use box-drawing characters in text output? Can be- 'y'/'yes' or 'n'/'no'.- If YN is specified, the equals is required.-- General help flags:- -h --help show command line help- --tldr show command examples with tldr- --info show the manual with info- --man show the manual with man- --version show version information- --debug=[1-9] show this much debug output (default: 1)- --pager=YN use a pager when needed ? y/yes (default) or n/no- --color=YNA --colour use ANSI color ? y/yes, n/no, or auto (default)-- Usually hledger accepts any unambiguous flag prefix, eg you can write --tl- instead of --tldr or --dry instead of --dry-run.-- You can combine short flags which don't take arguments, eg you can write- -MAST instead of -M -A -S -T. Flags requiring an argument can't be com-- bined in this way (-If FILE won't work).-- If the same option appears more than once in a command line, usually the- last (right-most) wins. Similarly, if mutually exclusive flags are used- together, the right-most wins. (When flags are mutually exclusive, they'll- usually have a group prefix in --help.)-- With most commands, arguments are interpreted as a hledger query which fil-- ter the data. Some queries can be expressed either with options or with- arguments.-- Below are more tips for using the command line interface - feel free to- skip these until you need them.-- Special characters- In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have special- meaning and sometimes need to be "escaped" or "quoted", by prefixing back-- slashes or enclosing in quotes.-- If you are able to minimise the use of special characters in your data, you- won't have to deal with this as much. For example, you could use hyphen -- or underscore _ instead of spaces in account names, and you could use the- USD currency code instead of the $ currency symbol in amounts.-- But if you prefer to use spaced account names and $, it's fine. Just be- aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed. (These examples- are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be adapted if you're- on Windows.)-- Escaping shell special characters- These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell (the- program which interprets command lines):-- * SPACE, <, >, (, ), |, \, %-- * $ if followed by a word character-- So for example, to match an account name containing spaces, like "credit- card", don't write:-- $ hledger register credit card-- Instead, enclose the name in single quotes:-- $ hledger register 'credit card'-- On unix or in Windows powershell, if you use double quotes your shell will- silently treat $ as variable interpolation. So you should probably avoid- double quotes, unless you want that behaviour, eg in a script:-- $ hledger register "assets:$SOMEACCT"-- But in an older Windows CMD.EXE window, you must use double quotes:-- C:\Users\Me> hledger register "credit card"-- On unix or in Windows powershell, as an alternative to quotes you can write- a backslash before each special character:-- $ hledger register credit\ card-- Finally, since hledger's query arguments are regular expressions (described- below), you could also fill that gap with . which matches any character:-- $ hledger register credit.card-- Escaping regular expression special characters- Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which- hledger's arguments often are. Those include:-- * ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, \-- To escape one of these, write \ before it. But note this is in addition to- the shell escaping above. So for characters which are special to both- shell and regular expressions, like \ and $, you will sometimes need two- levels of escaping.-- For example, a balance report that uses a cur: query restricting it to just- the $ currency, should be written like this:-- $ hledger balance cur:\\$-- Explanation:-- 1. Add a backslash \ before the dollar sign $ to protect it from regular- expressions (so it will be matched literally with no special meaning).-- 2. Add another backslash before that backslash, to protect it from the- shell (so the shell won't consume it).-- 3. $ doesn't need to be protected from the shell in this case, because it's- not followed by a word character; but it would be harmless to do so.-- But here's another way to write that, which tends to be easier: add back-- slashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with quotes to es-- cape from the shell:-- $ hledger balance cur:'\$'-- Escaping in other situations- hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than the- command line, where the escaping/quoting rules are different. For example,- backslash-quoting may not be available. Here's a quick reference:-- In unix shell Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes- for variable interpolation)- In Windows power- Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable in-- shell terpolation)- In Windows cmd Use double quotes- In hledger-ui's Use single or double quotes- filter prompt- In hledger-web's Use single or double quotes- search form- In an argument Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape, do regex-es-- file cape, write one argument/option per line- In a config file Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole- argument ('desc:a b' not desc:'a b')- In ghci (the Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument- Haskell REPL)-- 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, which can decode the characters being- used. This is essential - see Text encoding and Install: Text encoding.-- * Your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) must- support unicode. On Windows, you may need to use Windows Terminal.-- * 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).-- Regular expressions- A regular expression (regexp) is a small piece of text where certain char-- acters (like ., ^, $, +, *, (), |, [], \) have special meanings, forming a- tiny language for matching text precisely - very useful in hledger and- elsewhere. To learn all about them, visit regular-expressions.info.-- hledger supports regexps whenever you are entering a pattern to match some-- thing, eg in query arguments, account aliases, CSV if rules, hledger-web's- search form, hledger-ui's / search, etc. You may need to wrap them in- quotes, especially at the command line (see Special characters above).- Here are some examples:-- Account name queries (quoted for command line use):-- Regular expression: Matches:- ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- bank assets:bank, assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy, ...- :bank assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy- :bank: assets:bank:savings- '^bank' none of those ( ^ matches beginning of text )- 'bank$' assets:bank ( $ matches end of text )- 'big \$ bank' big $ bank ( \ disables following character's special meaning )- '\bbank\b' assets:bank, assets:bank:savings ( \b matches word boundaries )- '(sav|check)ing' saving or checking ( (|) matches either alternative )- 'saving|checking' saving or checking ( outer parentheses are not needed )- 'savings?' saving or savings ( ? matches 0 or 1 of the preceding thing )- 'my +bank' my bank, my bank, ... ( + matches 1 or more of the preceding thing )- 'my *bank' mybank, my bank, my bank, ... ( * matches 0 or more of the preceding thing )- 'b.nk' bank, bonk, b nk, ... ( . matches any character )-- Some other queries:-- desc:'amazon|amzn|audible' Amazon transactions- cur:EUR amounts with commodity symbol containing EUR- cur:'\$' amounts with commodity symbol containing $- cur:'^\$$' only $ amounts, not eg AU$ or CA$- cur:....? amounts with 4-or-more-character symbols- tag:.=202[1-3] things with any tag whose value contains 2021, 2022 or 2023-- Account name aliases: accept . instead of : as account separator:-- alias /\./=: replaces all periods in account names with colons-- Show multiple top-level accounts combined as one:-- --alias='/^[^:]+/=combined' ( [^:] matches any character other than : )-- Show accounts with the second-level part removed:-- --alias '/^([^:]+):[^:]+/ = \1'- match a top-level account and a second-level account- and replace those with just the top-level account- ( \1 in the replacement text means "whatever was matched- by the first parenthesised part of the regexp"-- CSV rules: match CSV records containing dining-related MCC codes:-- if \?MCC581[124]-- Match CSV records with a specific amount around the end/start of month:-- if %amount \b3\.99- & %date (29|30|31|01|02|03)$-- hledger's regular expressions- 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 sup-- port:-- 1. they are case insensitive-- 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing be-- ing matched)-- 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions)-- 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>)-- 5. backreferences are supported when doing text replacement in account- aliases or CSV rules, where backreferences can be used in the replace-- ment string to reference capturing groups in the search regexp. Other-- wise, if you write \1, it will match the digit 1.-- 6. they do not support lazy quantifiers (*?), mode modifiers ((?s)), char-- acter classes (\w, \d), or anything else not mentioned above.-- 7. they may not (I'm guessing not) properly support right-to-left or bidi-- rectional text.-- 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 lit-- eral 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 charac-- ters.-- Argument files- You can save a set of command line options and arguments in a file, and- then use them by writing @FILE.args as a hledger command argument. The- .args file extension is conventional, but not required. In an argument- file,-- * Each line can contain one argument, flag, or option.-- * Blank lines or lines beginning with # are ignored.-- * An option's flag and value should be joined by =.-- * An option value or an argument may contain spaces. Don't use single or- double quotes.-- * And generally, use one less level of quoting/escaping than at the command- line. Eg cur:\$, not cur:\\$ as on the command line.-- For example:-- # cash.args-- assets:cash- assets:charles schwab:sweep- cur:\$- -c=$1.-- $ hledger bal @cash.args-- Config files- With hledger 1.40+, you can save extra command line options and arguments- in a more featureful hledger config file. Here's a small example:-- # General options are listed first, and used with hledger commands that support them.- --pretty-- # Options following a `[COMMAND]` heading are used with that hledger command only.- [print]- --explicit --infer-costs-- To use a config file, specify it with the --conf option. Its options will- be inserted near the start of your command line, so you can override them- with command line options if needed.-- Or, you can set up an automatic config file that is used whenever you run- hledger, by creating hledger.conf in the current directory or above, or- .hledger.conf in your home directory (~/.hledger.conf), or hledger.conf in- your XDG config directory (~/.config/hledger/hledger.conf).-- Here is another example config you could start with: https://github.com/si-- monmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger.conf.sample-- You can put not only options, but also arguments in a config file. If the- first word in a config file's top (general) section does not begin with a- dash (eg: print), it is treated as the command argument (overriding any ar-- gument on the command line).-- On unix machines, you can add a shebang line at the top of a config file,- set executable permission on the file, and use it like a script. Eg (the- -S is needed on some operating systems):-- #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger --conf-- You can ignore config files by adding the -n/--no-conf flag to the command- line. This is useful when using hledger in scripts, or when troubleshoot-- ing. When both --conf and --no-conf options are used, the right-most wins.-- To inspect the processing of config files, use --debug or --debug=8. Or,- run the setup command, which will display any active config files. (setup- is not affected by config files itself, unlike other commands.)-- Warning!-- There aren't many hledger features that need a warning, but this is one!-- Automatic config files, while convenient, also make hledger less pre-- dictable and dependable. It's easy to make a config file that changes a- report's behaviour, or breaks your hledger-using scripts/applications, in- ways that will surprise you later.-- If you don't want this,-- 1. Just don't create a hledger.conf file on your machine.-- 2. Also be alert to downloaded directories which may contain a hledger.conf- file.-- 3. Also if you are sharing scripts or examples or support, consider that- others may have a hledger.conf file.-- Conversely, once you decide to use this feature, try to remember:-- 1. Whenever a hledger command does not work as expected, try it again with- -n (--no-conf) to see if a config file was to blame.-- 2. Whenever you call hledger from a script, consider whether that call- should use -n or not.-- 3. Be conservative about what you put in your config file; try to consider- the effect on all your reports.-- 4. To troubleshoot the effect of config files, run with --debug or --debug- 8.-- The config file feature was added in hledger 1.40.-- Shell completions- If you use the bash or zsh shells, you can optionally set up context-sensi-- tive autocompletion for hledger command lines. Try pressing- hledger<SPACE><TAB><TAB> (should list all hledger commands) or hledger reg- acct:<TAB><TAB> (should list your top-level account names). If completions- aren't working, or for more details, see Install > Shell completions.--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 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)-- Output format- Some commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the terminal.- Here are those commands and the formats currently supported:-- command txt html csv/tsv fods beancount sql json- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- aregister Y Y Y Y Y- balance Y Y Y Y Y- balancesheet Y Y Y Y Y- balancesheetequity Y Y Y Y Y- cashflow Y Y Y Y Y- incomestatement Y Y Y Y Y- print Y Y Y Y Y Y Y- register Y Y Y Y Y-- You can also see which output formats a command supports by running hledger- CMD -h and looking for the -O/--output-format=FMT option,-- You can select the output format by using that option:-- $ hledger print -O csv # print CSV to standard output-- or by choosing a suitable filename extension with the -o/--out-- put-file=FILE.FMT option:-- $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.csv # write CSV to foo.csv-- The -O option can be combined with -o to override the file extension if- needed:-- $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv # write CSV to foo.txt-- Here are some notes about the various output formats.-- Text output- This is the default: human readable, plain text report output, suitable for- viewing with a monospace font in a terminal. If your data contains unicode- or wide characters, you'll need a terminal and font that render those cor-- rectly. (This can be challenging on MS Windows.)-- Some reports (register, aregister) will normally use the full window width.- If this isn't working or you want to override it, you can use the- -w/--width option.-- Balance reports (balance, balancesheet, incomestatement...) use whatever- width they need. Multi-period multi-currency reports can often be wider- than the window. Besides using a pager, helpful techniques for this situa-- tion include --layout=bare, -X COMM, cur:, --transpose, --tree, --depth,- --drop, switching to html output, etc.-- Box-drawing characters- hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of dis-- play problems caused by a terminal/font not supporting box-drawing charac-- ters.-- But your terminal and font probably do support them, so we recommend using- the --pretty flag to show prettier tables in the terminal. This is a good- flag to add to your hledger config file.-- Colour- hledger tries to automatically detect ANSI colour and text styling support- and use it when appropriate. (Currently, it is used rather minimally: some- reports show negative numbers in red, and help output uses bold text for- emphasis.)-- You can override this by setting the NO_COLOR environment variable to dis-- able it, or by using the --color/--colour option, perhaps in your config- file, with a y/yes or n/no value to force it on or off.-- Paging- In unix-like environments, when displaying large output (in any output for-- mat) in the terminal, hledger tries to use a pager when appropriate. (You- can disable this with the --pager=no option, perhaps in your config file.)-- The pager shows one page of text at a time, and lets you scroll around to- see more. While it is active, usually SPACE shows the next page, h shows- help, and q quits. The home/end/page up/page down/cursor keys, and mouse- scrolling, may also work.-- hledger will use the pager specified by the PAGER environment variable,- otherwise less if available, otherwise more if available. (With one excep-- tion: hledger help -p TOPIC will always use less, so that it can scroll to- the topic.)-- The pager is expected to display hledger's ANSI colour and text styling.- If you see junk characters, you might need to configure your pager to han-- dle ANSI codes. Or you could disable colour as described above.-- If you are using the less pager, hledger tries to provide a consistently- pleasant experience by running it with some extra options added to your- LESS environment variable:-- --chop-long-lines --hilite-unread --ignore-case --no-init- --quit-if-one-screen --shift=8 --squeeze-blank-lines --use-backslash-- and when colour output is enabled:-- --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS-- You can prevent this by setting your preferred options in the HLEDGER_LESS- variable, which will be used instead of LESS.-- HTML output- HTML output can be styled by an optional hledger.css file in the same di-- rectory.-- HTML output will be a HTML fragment, not a complete HTML document. Like- other hledger output, for non-ascii characters it will use the system lo-- cale's text encoding (see Text encoding).-- CSV / TSV output- In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are- disabled automatically.-- FODS output- FODS is the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format as plain XML, as accepted by- LibreOffice and OpenOffice. If you use their spreadsheet applications,- this is better than CSV because it works across locales (decimal point vs.- decimal comma, character encoding stored in XML header, thus no problems- with umlauts), it supports fixed header rows and columns, cell types- (string vs. number vs. date), separation of number and currency (currency- is displayed but the cell type is still a number accessible for computa-- tion), styles (bold), borders. Btw. you can still extract CSV from- FODS/ODS using various utilities like libreoffice --headless or ods2csv.-- Beancount output- This is Beancount's journal format. You can use this to export your- hledger data to Beancount, eg to use the Fava web app.-- hledger will try to adjust your data to suit Beancount, automatically. Be- cautious and check the conversion until you are confident it is good. If- you plan to export to Beancount often, you may want to follow its conven-- tions, for a cleaner conversion:-- * use Beancount-friendly account names-- * use currency codes instead of currency symbols-- * use cost notation instead of equity conversion postings-- * avoid virtual postings, balance assignments, and secondary dates.-- There is one big adjustment you must handle yourself: for Beancount, the- top level account names must be Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, and/or- Expenses. You can use account aliases to rewrite your account names tem-- porarily, if needed, as in this hledger2beancount.conf config file.-- 2024-12-20: Some more things not yet handled for you:-- * P directives are not converted automatically - convert those yourself.-- * Balance assignments are not converted (Beancount doesn't support them) -- replace those with explicit amounts.-- Beancount account names- Aside from the top-level names, hledger will adjust your account names to- make valid Beancount account names, by capitalising each part, replacing- spaces with -, replacing other unsupported characters with C<HEXBYTES>,- prepending A to account name parts which don't begin with a letter or- digit, and appending :A to account names which have only one part.-- Beancount commodity names- hledger will adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount commod-- ity/currency names, which must be 2-24 uppercase letters, digits, or ', .,- _, -, beginning with a letter and ending with a letter or digit. hledger- will convert known currency symbols to ISO 4217 currency codes, capitalise- letters, replace spaces with -, replace other unsupported characters with- C<HEXBYTES>, and prepend or append C if needed.-- Beancount virtual postings- Beancount doesn't allow virtual postings; if you have any, they will be- omitted from beancount output.-- Beancount metadata- hledger tags will be converted to Beancount metadata (except for tags whose- name begins with _). Metadata names will be adjusted to be Beancount-com-- patible: beginning with a lowercase letter, at least two characters long,- and with unsupported characters encoded. Metadata values will use Bean-- count's string type.-- In hledger, objects can have the same tag repeated with multiple values.- Eg an assets:cash account might have both type:Asset and type:Cash tags.- For Beancount these will be combined into one, with the values combined,- comma separated. Eg: type: "Asset, Cash".-- Beancount costs- Beancount doesn't allow redundant costs and conversion postings as hledger- does. If you have any of these, the conversion postings will be omitted.- Currently we support at most one cost + conversion postings group per- transaction.-- Beancount operating currency- Declaring an operating currency (or several) improves Beancount and Fava- reports. Currently hledger will declare each currency used in cost amounts- as an operating currency. If needed, replace these with your own declara-- tion, like-- option "operating_currency" "USD"-- SQL output- SQL output is expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Postgres.-- The SQL statements are expected to be executed in the empty database. If- you already have tables created via SQL output of hledger, you would proba-- bly want to either clear data from these (via delete or truncate SQL state-- ments) or drop the tables completely before import; otherwise your postings- would be duplicated.-- For SQLite, it is more useful if you modify the generated id field to be a- PRIMARY KEY. Eg:-- $ hledger print -O sql | sed 's/id serial/id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL/g' | ...-- This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome.-- JSON output- Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful representation- of hledger's internal data types. To understand its structure, read the- Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in https://github.com/simon-- michael/hledger/blob/master/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs.- hledger-web's OpenAPI specification may also be relevant.-- hledger stores numbers with sometimes up to 255 significant digits. This- is too many digits for most JSON consumers, so in JSON output we round num-- bers to at most 10 decimal places. (We don't limit the number of integer- digits.) If you find this causing problems, please let us know. Related:- #1195-- This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome.-- Commodity styles- When displaying amounts, hledger infers a standard display style for each- commodity/currency, as described below in Commodity display style.-- If needed, this can be overridden by a -c/--commodity-style option (except- for cost amounts and amounts displayed by the print command, which are al-- ways displayed with all decimal digits). For example, the following will- force dollar amounts to be displayed as shown:-- $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0'-- This option can be repeated to set the display style for multiple commodi-- ties/currencies. Its argument is as described in the commodity directive.- Note that omitting the commodity symbol will set the display style for just- the no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.-- In some cases hledger will adjust number formatting to improve their- parseability (such as adding trailing decimal marks when needed).-- Debug output- We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and de-- velop. You can add --debug[=N] to any hledger command line to see addi-- tional debug output. N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9- (maximum output). Typically you would start with 1 and increase until you- are seeing enough. Debug output goes to stderr, and is not affected by- -o/--output-file (unless you redirect stderr to stdout, eg: 2>&1). It will- be interleaved with normal output, which can help reveal when parts of the- code are evaluated. To capture debug output in a log file instead, you can- usually redirect stderr, eg:-- hledger bal --debug=3 2>hledger.log-- (This option doesn't work in a config file yet.)--Environment- These environment variables affect hledger:-- HLEDGER_LESS If less is your pager, this variable specifies the less op-- tions hledger should use. (Otherwise, LESS + custom options are used.)-- LEDGER_FILE The default journal file, to be used when no -f/--file option- is provided. For example, it could be ~/finance/main.journal. This can- also be a glob pattern, eg ./2???.journal. (If the glob matches multiple- files, only the alphanumerically first one is used.) If LEDGER_FILE points- to a non-existent file, an error will be raised. If the value is the empty- string, it is ignored.-- If LEDGER_FILE is not set and -f is not provided, the default journal file- is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or if a home directory can't be detected,- ./.hledger.journal).-- See also Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE.-- NO_COLOR If this environment variable exists (with any value, including- empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, unless- overridden by an explicit --color=y or --colour=y option.--PART 2: DATA FORMATS-Journal- hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal entries- in hledger journal format. If you're looking for a quick reference, jump- ahead to the journal cheatsheet (or use the table of contents at- https://hledger.org/hledger.html).-- This file represents an accounting General Journal. The .journal file ex-- tension is most often used, though not strictly 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 compatible with most of Ledger's journal for-- mat, but not all of it. The differences and interoperation tips are de-- scribed at hledger and Ledger. With some care, and by avoiding incompati-- ble features, you can keep your hledger journal readable by Ledger and vice- versa. This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour of one app against- the other.-- 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 add-ons such as- ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and hledger-vs-- code for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, formatting,- tab completion, and useful commands. See Editors at hledger.org for the- full list.-- A hledger journal file can contain three kinds of thing: comment lines,- transactions, and/or directives (including periodic transaction rules and- auto posting rules). Understanding the journal file format will also give- you a good understanding of hledger's data model. Here's a quick cheat-- sheet/overview, followed by detailed descriptions of each part.-- Journal cheatsheet- # Here is the main syntax of hledger's journal format- # (omitting extra Ledger compatibility syntax).-- ###############################################################################-- # 1. These are comment lines, for notes or temporarily disabling things.- ; They begin with # or ;-- comment- Or, lines can be enclosed within "comment" / "end comment".- This is a block of- commented lines.- end comment-- # Some journal entries can have semicolon comments at end of line ; like this- # Some of them require 2 or more spaces before the semicolon.-- ###############################################################################-- # 2. Directives customise processing or output in some way.- # You don't need any directives to get started.- # But they can add more error checking, or change how things are displayed.- # They begin with a word, letter, or symbol.- # They are most often placed at the top, before transactions.-- account assets ; Declare valid account names and display order.- account assets:savings ; A subaccount. This one represents a bank account.- account assets:checking ; Another. Note, 2+ spaces after the account name.- account assets:receivable ; Accounting type is inferred from english names,- account passifs ; or declared with a "type" tag, type:L- account expenses ; type:X- ; A follow-on comment line, indented.- account expenses:rent ; Expense and revenue categories are also accounts.- ; Subaccounts inherit their parent's type.-- commodity $0.00 ; Declare valid commodities and their display styles.- commodity 1.000,00 EUR-- decimal-mark . ; The decimal mark used in this file (if ambiguous).-- payee Whole Foods ; Declare a valid payee name.-- tag trip ; Declare a valid tag name.-- P 2024-03-01 AAPL $179 ; Declare a market price for AAPL in $ on this date.-- include other.journal ; Include another journal file here.-- # Declare a recurring "periodic transaction", for budget/forecast reports- ~ monthly set budget goals ; <- Note, 2+ spaces before the description.- (expenses:rent) $1000- (expenses:food) $500-- # Declare an auto posting rule, to modify existing transactions in reports- = revenues:consulting- liabilities:tax:2024:us *0.25 ; Add a tax liability & expense- expenses:tax:2024:us *-0.25 ; for 25% of the revenue.-- ###############################################################################-- # 3. Transactions are what it's all about.- # They are dated events, usually movements of money between 2 or more accounts.- # They begin with a numeric date.- # Here is their basic shape:- #- # DATE DESCRIPTION ; The transaction's date and optional description.- # ACCOUNT1 AMOUNT ; A posting of an amount to/from this account, indented.- # ACCOUNT2 AMOUNT ; A second posting, balancing the first.- # ... ; More if needed. Amounts must sum to zero.- # ; Note, 2+ spaces between account names and amounts.-- 2024-01-01 opening balances ; At the start, declare pre-existing balances this way.- assets:savings $10000 ; Account names can be anything. lower case is easy to type.- assets:checking $1000 ; assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses are common.- liabilities:credit card $-500 ; liabilities, equity, revenues balances are usually negative.- equity:start ; One amount can be left blank. $-10500 is inferred here.- ; Some of these accounts we didn't declare above,- ; so -s/--strict would complain.-- 2024-01-03 ! (12345) pay rent- ; Additional transaction comment lines, indented.- ; There can be a ! or * after the date meaning "pending" or "cleared".- ; There can be a parenthesised (code) after the date/status.- ; Amounts' sign shows direction of flow.- assets:checking $-500 ; Minus means removed from this account (credit).- expenses:rent $500 ; Plus means added to this account (debit).-- ; Keeping transactions in date order is optional (but helps error checking).-- 2024-01-02 Gringott's Bank | withdrawal ; Description can be PAYEE | NOTE- assets:bank:gold -10 gold- assets:pouch 10 gold-- 2024-01-02 shopping- expenses:clothing 1 gold- expenses:wands 5 gold- assets:pouch -6 gold-- 2024-01-02 receive gift- revenues:gifts -3 "Chocolate Frogs" ; Complex commodity symbols- assets:pouch 3 "Chocolate Frogs" ; must be in double quotes.-- 2024-01-15 buy some shares, in two lots ; Cost can be noted.- assets:investments:2024-01-15 2.0 AAAA @ $1.50 ; @ means per-unit cost- assets:investments:2024-01-15-02 3.0 AAAA @@ $4 ; @@ means total cost- ; ^ Per-lot subaccounts are sometimes useful.- assets:checking $-7-- 2024-01-15 assert some account balances on this date- ; Balances can be asserted in any transaction, with =, for extra error checking.- ; Assertion txns like this one can be made with hledger close --assert --show-costs- ;- assets:savings $0 = $10000- assets:checking $0 = $493- assets:bank:gold 0 gold = -10 gold- assets:pouch 0 gold = 4 gold- assets:pouch 0 "Chocolate Frogs" = 3 "Chocolate Frogs"- assets:investments:2024-01-15 0.0 AAAA = 2.0 AAAA @ $1.50- assets:investments:2024-01-15-02 0.0 AAAA = 3.0 AAAA @@ $4- liabilities:credit card $0 = $-500-- 2024-02-01 note some event, or a transaction not yet fully entered, on this date- ; Postings are not required.-- # Consistent YYYY-MM-DD date format is recommended,- # but you can use . or / and omit leading zeros if you prefer.- 2024.01.01- 2024/1/1-- Comments- Lines in the journal will be ignored if they begin with a hash (#) or a- semicolon (;). (See also Other syntax.) hledger will also ignore regions- beginning with a comment line and ending with an end comment line (or file- end). Here's a suggestion for choosing between them:-- * # for top-level notes-- * ; for commenting out things temporarily-- * comment for quickly commenting large regions (remember it's there, or you- might get confused)-- Eg:-- # a comment line- ; another commentline- comment- A multi-line comment block,- continuing until "end comment" directive- or the end of the current file.- end comment-- Some hledger entries can have same-line comments attached to them, from ;- (semicolon) to end of line. See Transaction comments, Posting comments,- and Account comments below.-- Transactions- Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They rep-- resent 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-- Dates- Simple dates- Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD- or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be omitted, in- which case it will be inferred from the context: the current transaction,- the default year set with a Y directive, or the current date when the com-- mand 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.)-- Posting dates- You can give individual postings a different date from their parent trans-- action, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) like ;- date:DATE. (There's also a Ledger-compatible syntax, ; [DATE], which can- be convenient.)-- 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.- The date: tag must have a valid simple date value if it is present, eg a- date: tag with no value is not allowed.-- Status- Transactions (or individual postings within a transaction) can have a sta-- tus 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/--pend-- ing, and -C/--cleared flags (and you can combine these, eg -UP to match all- except cleared things). Or you can use the status:, status:!, and status:*- queries, or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.-- (Note: in Ledger the "unmarked" state is called "uncleared"; in hledger we- renamed it to "unmarked" for semantic clarity.)-- 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 transac-- tion 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 un-- cashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your fi-- nances.-- Code- After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally write- a transaction "code", such as a check number or transaction id, enclosed in- parentheses,-- This has a few limitations: The code must not contain a closing parenthesis- (or it will be truncated). Codes tend to disrupt alignment of the register- report, making it harder to scan visually. And you can't store more than- one value there per transaction. For these reasons you might want to avoid- the code field and use tags(#tags] instead.-- Description- After the date, status mark and/or code fields, the rest of the line (or- until a comment is begun with ;) is the transaction's description. Here- you can describe the transaction (called the "narration" in traditional- bookkeeping), or you can record a payee/payer name, or you can leave it- empty.-- Transaction descriptions show up in print output and in register reports,- and can be listed with the descriptions command.-- You can query by description with desc:DESCREGEX, or pivot on description- with --pivot desc.-- Payee and note- Sometimes people want a dedicated payee/payer field that can be queried and- checked more strictly. If you want that, you can write a | (pipe) charac-- ter in the description. This divides it into a "payee" field on the left,- and a "note" field on the right. (Either can be empty.)-- You can query these with payee:PAYEEREGEX and note:NOTEREGEX, list their- values with the payees and notes commands, or pivot on payee or note.-- Note: in transactions with no | character, description, payee, and note all- have the same value. Once a | is added, they become distinct. (If you'd- like to change this behaviour, please propose it on the mail list.)-- If you want more strict error checking, you can declare the valid payee- names with payee directives, and then enforce these with hledger check pay-- ees. (Note: because of the above, for this you'll need to ensure every- transaction description contains a | and therefore a checkable payee name,- even if it's empty.)-- Transaction comments- Text following ;, after a transaction description, and/or on indented lines- immediately below it, form comments for that transaction. They are repro-- duced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which- are not ignored.-- 2012-01-01 something ; a transaction comment- ; a second line of transaction comment- expenses 1- assets-- 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 including single spaces.- If anything follows the account name on the same line, the account name- must be ended by two or more spaces.)-- * (optional) an amount-- * (optional) a same-line posting comment, beginning with a semicolon (;).-- If the amount is positive, it is being added to the account; if negative,- it is being removed from the account.-- The posting amounts in a transaction must sum up to zero, indicating that- the inflows and outflows are equal. We call this a balanced transaction.- (You can read more about the details of transaction balancing below.)-- If no amount is written, it will be calculated automatically from the other- postings in the transaction, so as to balance the transaction. In other- words, in any transaction you can leave one posting amountless to save typ-- ing.-- Debits and credits- The traditional accounting concepts of debit and credit of course exist in- hledger, but we represent them with numeric sign. Positive and negative- posting amounts represent debits and credits respectively.-- You don't need to remember that, but if you would like to - eg for helping- newcomers or for talking with your accountant - here's a handy mnemonic:-- debit / plus / left / short words- credit / minus / right / longer words-- Account names- Accounts are the main way of categorising things in hledger. As in Double- Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts (such as a bank- account), or more abstract categories such as "money spent on food" or- "money borrowed from Frank".-- Account names are flexible. They may be capitalised or not; they may con-- tain letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols, or single spaces; they may be- in any language.-- Typically we use the five traditional accounting categories as the starting- point for account names. In english they are:-- assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses-- These will be discussed more in Account types below. In hledger docs you- may see them referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short.-- Two space delimiter- Note the two or more spaces delimiter that's sometimes required after ac-- count names. hledger's account names, inherited from Ledger, are very- permissive; they may contain pretty much any kind of text, including single- spaces and semicolons. Because of this, they must be terminated by two or- more spaces if there is anything following them on the same line. For ex-- ample, if an amount, balance assignment, or same-line comment follows an- account name, they must be preceded by two or more spaces, else they would- be considered part of the account name:-- bad: assets:accounts receivable $10 ; <- too close!- good: assets:accounts receivable $10-- bad: assets:accounts receivable =$1000 ; <- too close!- good: assets:accounts receivable =$1000-- bad: assets:accounts receivable ; comment. <- too close!- good: assets:accounts receivable ; comment-- This two-space delimiter appears in a few places in hledger, such as after- account names in postings or account directives; also after the period ex-- pression in periodic transaction rules. When you are starting out, expect- it to catch you out at least once. It's annoying sometimes, but it lets us- use expressive account names while still keeping the syntax light.-- Account hierarchy- For more precise reporting, we usually divide accounts into more detailed- subaccounts, subsubaccounts, and so on, by writing a full colon between ac-- count name parts. For example, instead of writing assets and expenses, we- might write assets:bank:checking and expenses:food. From these names- hledger will infer this hierarchy of five accounts:-- assets- assets:bank- assets:bank:checking- expenses- expenses:food-- Or as an outline:-- assets- bank- checking- expenses- food-- hledger reports can summarise the account tree to any depth, so you can- make your subcategories as detailed as you like. But don't go overboard,- especially when getting started; simpler categories can be less work.-- Other account name features- Enclosing the account name in parentheses or brackets, like (ex-- penses:food), enables a non-standard bookkeeping feature: virtual postings.-- Account names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or perma-- nently, by account aliases.-- Amounts- After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Remember: between ac-- count name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.)-- hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international for-- mats. 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-- Decimal marks- A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma:-- 1.23- 1,23-- Both of these are common in international number formats, so hledger is not- biased towards one or the other. Because hledger also supports digit group- marks (eg thousands separators), this means that a number like 1,000 or- 1.000 containing just one period or comma is ambiguous. In such cases,- hledger by default assumes it is a decimal mark, and will parse both of- those as 1.-- To help hledger parse such ambiguous numbers more accurately, if you use- digit group marks, we recommend declaring the decimal mark explicitly. The- best way is to add a decimal-mark directive at the top of each data file,- like this:-- decimal-mark .-- Or you can declare it per commodity with commodity directives, described- below.-- hledger also accepts numbers like 10. with no digits after the decimal mark- (and will sometimes display numbers that way to disambiguate them - see- Trailing decimal marks).-- Digit group marks- In the integer part of the amount quantity (left of the decimal mark),- groups of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a- comma or period (whichever is not used as decimal mark), or a space (sev-- eral Unicode space variants, like no-break space, are also accepted). So- these are all valid amounts in a journal file:-- $1,000,000.00- EUR 2.000.000,00- INR 9,99,99,999.00- 1 000 000.00 ; <- ordinary space- 1 000 000.00 ; <- no-break space-- Commodity- Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal num-- ber, 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 punctua-- tion), 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 power-- ful 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 prac-- tice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in hledger's output; you- can't write them directly in the journal file.-- By default, the format of amounts in the journal influences how hledger- displays them in output. This is explained in Commodity display style be-- low.-- Costs- In traditional double entry bookkeeping, to record a transaction where one- commodity is exchanged for another, you add extra equity postings to bal-- ance the two commodities. Eg:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars $-123- equity:conversion $123- equity:conversion a-100- assets:euros a100-- hledger offers a more convenient @/@@ "cost notation" as an alternative:- instead of equity postings, you can write the "conversion rate" or "trans-- acted price" after a posting amount. hledger docs generically call this- "cost", whether buying or selling. It can be written as either @ UNITPRICE- or @@ TOTALPRICE. Eg you could write the above as:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars $-123- assets:euros a100 @ $1.23 ; unit cost (exchange rate)-- or:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars $-123- assets:euros a100 @@ $123 ; total cost-- The cost should normally be a positive amount. Negative costs are sup-- ported, but can be confusing, as discussed at --infer-market-prices: market- prices from transactions.-- Costs participate in transaction balancing. Amounts are converted to their- cost before checking if the transaction is balanced. You could also write- the above less redundantly, like so:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars ; $-123 is inferred- assets:euros a100 @ $1.23-- or:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars ; $-123 is inferred- assets:euros a100 @@ $123-- or even:-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:euros a100 ; @@ $123 is inferred- assets:dollars $-123-- This last form works for transactions involving exactly two commodities,- with neither cost notation nor equity postings. Note, the order of post-- ings is significant: the cost will be attached to the first (top) posting.- So we had to switch the order of postings, to get the same meaning as- above. Also, this form is the easiest to make undetected errors with; so- it is rejected by hledger check balanced, and by strict mode.-- Advantages of cost notation:-- 1. it's more compact and easier to read and write-- 2. hledger reports can show such amounts converted to their cost, when you- add the -B/--cost flag (see Cost reporting).-- Advantages of equity postings-- 1. they help to keep the accounting equation balanced (if you care about- that)-- 2. they translate easily to any other double entry accounting system.-- Most hledger users use cost notation and don't use equity postings.-- But you can always convert cost notation to equity postings by adding --in-- fer-equity. Eg try hledger print -x --infer-equity.-- And you can usually convert equity postings to cost notation by adding- --infer-costs (see Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings).- Eg try hledger print -x --infer-costs.-- Finally: using both equity postings and cost notation at the same time is- allowed, as long as the journal entry is well formed such that the equity- postings / cost equivalences can be detected. (Otherwise you'll get an er-- ror message saying that the transaction is unbalanced.):-- 2026-01-01 buy euros- assets:dollars $-123- equity:conversion $123- equity:conversion a-100- assets:euros a100 @ $1.23-- So in principle you could enable both --infer-equity and --infer-costs in- your config file, and your reports would have the advantages of both.-- Cost basis / lot syntax- If you are buying some commodity to hold as an investment, it may be impor-- tant to keep track of-- 1. its original acquisition cost-- 2. its original acquisition date-- 3. and a sequence number or label, if needed, to disambiguate multiple ac-- quisitions on the same day, or to serve as a mnemonic for easy refer-- ence.-- In hledger we call these three the "cost basis"; and if an amount being ac-- quired has a cost basis, we call it a "lot". Tax authorities often require- that lots are tracked carefully and disposed of (sold) in a certain order.-- Note, though "cost basis" sounds similar to the "cost" (transacted price)- discussed above, they are distinct concepts. In some transactions the- transacted price and basis cost are the same, but in others they are not.-- So cost basis has its own syntax, also called "lot syntax". hledger's lot- syntax is like Ledger's: one or more of the following annotations, follow-- ing the main amount:-- * {LOTUNITCOST} or {{LOTTOTALCOST}} (see lot price)-- * [LOTDATE] (see lot date)-- * (LOTLABEL) (see lot note)-- hledger does not yet do anything with this lot syntax, except to preserve- it and show it in print's txt, beancount, and json output. This means you- can use this syntax in your hledger journals (plus an amountless extra- posting to help transactions balance, if needed), then use the print com-- mand to export to Ledger or Beancount or rustledger, to use their- lots/gains reports (see Export Lots workflow).-- 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-asser-- tions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for reading Ledger- files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable balance assignments,- described below).-- Assertions and ordering- hledger calculates and checks an account's balance assertions in date order- (and when there are multiple assertions on the same day, in parse order).- Note this is different from Ledger, which checks assertions always in parse- order, ignoring dates.-- This means in hledger you can freely reorder transactions, postings, or- files, and balance assertions will usually keep working. The exception is- when you reorder multiple postings on the same day, to the same account,- which have balance assertions; those will likely need updating.-- Assertions and multiple files- If an account has transactions appearing in multiple files, balance asser-- tions can still work - but only if those files are part of a hierarchy made- by include directives.-- If the same files are specified with two -f options on the command line,- the assertions in the second will not see the balances from the first.-- To work around this, arrange your files in a hierarchy with include. Or,- you could concatenate the files temporarily, and process them like one big- file.-- Why does it work this way ? It might be related to hledger's goal of sta-- ble predictable reports. File hierarchy is considered "permanent", part of- your data, while the order of command line options/arguments is not. We- don't want transient changes to be able to change the meaning of the data.- Eg it would be frustrating if tomorrow all your balance assertions broke- because you wrote command line arguments in a different order. (Discussion- welcome.)-- Assertions and costs- Balance assertions ignore costs, and should normally be written without- one:-- 2019/1/1- (a) $1 @ a1 = $1-- We do allow costs to be written in balance assertion amounts, however, and- print shows them, but 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 costs), and because balance assignments do- use costs (see below).-- Assertions and commodities- The balance assertions described so far are "single commodity balance as-- sertions": they assert and check the balance in one commodity, ignoring any- others that may be present. This is how balance assertions work in Ledger- also.-- If an account contains multiple commodities, you can assert their balances- by writing multiple postings with balance assertions, one for each commod-- ity:-- 2013/1/1- usd $-1- eur a-1- both-- 2013/1/2- both 0 = $1- both 0 = a1-- In hledger you can make a stronger "sole commodity balance assertion" by- writing two equals signs (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This also asserts that- there are no other commodities in the account besides the asserted one (or- at least, that their current balance is zero):-- 2013/1/1- usd $-1 == $-1 ; these sole commodity assertions succeed- eur a-1 == a-1- both ;== $1 ; this one would fail because 'both' contains $ and a-- It's less easy to make a "sole commodities balance assertion" (note the- plural) - ie, asserting that an account contains two or more specified com-- modities and no others. It can be done by-- 1. isolating each commodity in a subaccount, and asserting those-- 2. and also asserting there are no commodities in the parent account it-- self:-- 2013/1/1- usd $-1- eur a-1- both 0 == 0 ; nothing up my sleeve- both:usd $1 == $1 ; a dollar here- both:eur a1 == a1 ; a euro there-- Assertions and subaccounts- All of the balance assertions above (both = and ==) are "subaccount-exclu-- sive balance assertions"; they ignore any balances that exist in deeper- subaccounts.-- In hledger you can make "subaccount-inclusive balance assertions" by adding- a star after the equals (=* or ==*):-- 2019/1/1- equity:start- assets:checking $10- assets:savings $10- assets $0 ==* $20 ; assets + subaccounts contains $20 and nothing else-- Assertions and status- Balance assertions always consider postings of all statuses (unmarked,- pending, or cleared); they are not affected by the -U/--unmarked /- -P/--pending / -C/--cleared flags or the status: query.-- Assertions and virtual postings- Balance assertions always consider both real and virtual postings; they are- not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query.-- Assertions and auto postings- Balance assertions are affected by the --auto flag, which generates auto- postings, which can alter account balances. Because auto postings are op-- tional in hledger, accounts affected by them effectively have two balances.- But balance assertions can only test one or the other of these. So to- avoid making fragile assertions, either:-- * assert the balance calculated with --auto, and always use --auto with- that file-- * or assert the balance calculated without --auto, and never use --auto- with that file-- * or avoid balance assertions on accounts affected by auto postings (or- avoid auto postings entirely).-- 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.-- Assertions and hledger add- Balance assertions can be included in the amounts given in add. All types- of assertions are supported, and assertions can be used as in a normal- journal file.-- All transactions, not just those that have an explicit assertion, are vali-- dated against the existing assertions in the journal. This means it is- possible for an added transaction to fail even if its assertions are cor-- rect as of the transaction date.-- If this assertion checking is not desired, then it can be disabled with -I.-- However, balance assignments are currently not supported.-- Posting comments- Text following ;, at the end of a posting line, and/or on indented lines- immediately below it, form comments for that posting. They are reproduced- by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which are not- ignored.-- 2012-01-01- expenses 1 ; a comment for posting 1- assets- ; a comment for posting 2- ; a second comment line for posting 2-- Transaction balancing- How exactly does hledger decide when a transaction is balanced ? Espe-- cially when it involves costs, which often are not exact, because of re-- peating decimals, or imperfect data from financial institutions ? In each- commodity, hledger sums the transaction's posting amounts, after converting- any with costs; then it checks if that sum is zero, when rounded to a suit-- able number of decimal digits - which we call the balancing precision.-- Since version 1.50, hledger infers balancing precision in each transaction- from the amounts in that transaction's journal entry (like Ledger). Ie,- when checking the balance of commodity A, it uses the highest decimal pre-- cision seen for A in the journal entry (excluding cost amounts). This- makes transaction balancing robust; any imbalances must be visibly ac-- counted for in the journal entry, display precision can be freely increased- with -c, and compatibility with Ledger and Beancount journals is good.-- Note that hledger versions before 1.50 worked differently: they allowed- display precision to override the balancing precision. This masked small- imbalances and caused fragility (see issue #2402). As a result, some jour-- nal entries (or CSV rules) that worked with hledger <1.50, are now rejected- with an "unbalanced transaction" error. If you hit this problem, it's easy- to fix:-- * You can restore the old behaviour, by adding --txn-balancing=old to the- command or to your ~/.hledger.conf file. This lets you keep using old- journals unchanged, though without the above benefits.-- * Or you can fix the problem entries (recommended). There are three ways,- use whichever seems best:-- 1. make cost amounts more precise (add more/better decimal digits)-- 2. or make non-cost amounts less precise (remove unnecessary decimal dig-- its that are raising the precision)-- 3. or add a posting to absorb the imbalance (eg "expenses:rounding". Re-- member that one posting may omit the amount; that's convenient here.)-- Tags- Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, post-- ings, or accounts, which you can match with a tag: query in reports. (See- queries below.)-- Tags are a single word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a full- colon, written within a comment. (Yes, storing data in comments is- slightly weird.) Here's a transaction with a tag:-- 2025-01-01 groceries ; some-tag:- assets:checking- expenses:food $1-- A tag can have a value, a single line of text written after the colon. Tag- values can't contain newlines.:-- 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1: this is tag1's value-- Multiple tags can be separated by comma. Tag values can't contain commas.:-- 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag2:value 2, comment text-- A tag can have multiple values:-- 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag1:value 2-- You can write each tag on its own line of you prefer (but they still can't- contain commas):-- 2025-01-01 groceries- ; tag1: value 1- ; tag2: value 2-- Tags can be attached to individual postings, rather than the overall trans-- action:-- 2025-01-01 rent- assets:checking- expenses:rent $1000 ; postingtag:-- Tags can be attached to accounts, in their account directive:-- account assets:checking ; acct-number: 123-45-6789-- Tag propagation- In addition to what they are attached to, tags also affect related data in- a few ways, allowing more powerful queries:-- 1. Accounts -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their account.-- 2. Transactions -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their transaction.-- 3. Postings -> transactions. Transactions also acquire the tags of their- postings.-- So when you use a tag: query to match whole transactions, individual post-- ings, or accounts, it's good to understand how tags behave. Here's an ex-- ample showing all three kinds of propagation:-- account assets:checking- account expenses:food ; atag:-- 2025-01-01 groceries ; ttag:- assets:checking ; p1tag:- expenses:food $1 ; p2tag:-- data part has tags explanation- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ assets:check- no tags attached- ing account- expenses:food atag atag: in comment- account- assets:check- p1tag, ttag p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from- ing posting transaction- expenses:food p2tag, atag, p2tag: in comment, atag from account, ttag- posting ttag from transaction- groceries ttag, p1tag, ttag: in comment, p1tag from first posting,- transaction p2tag, atag p2tag and atag from second posting-- Displaying tags- You can use the tags command to list tag names or values.-- The print command also shows tags.-- You can use --pivot to display tag values in other reports, in various ways- (eg appended to account names, like pseudo subaccounts).-- When to use tags ?- Tags provide more dimensions of categorisation, complementing accounts and- transaction descriptions. When to use each of these is somewhat a matter- of taste. Accounts have the most built-in support, and regex queries on- descriptions are also quite powerful. So you may not need tags at all.- But if you want to track multiple cross-cutting categories, they can be a- good fit. For example, you could tag trip-related transactions with trip:- YEAR:PLACE, without disturbing your usual account categories.-- Tag names- What is allowed in a tag name ? Most non-whitespace characters. Eg : is a- valid tag.-- For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the tag di-- rective, and then enforce these with the check command. But note that tags- are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes where you didn't intend- them. Eg a comment like ; see https://foo.com adds a https tag.-- There are several tag names which have special significance to hledger.- They are explained elsewhere, but here's a quick reference:-- type -- declares an account's type- date -- overrides a posting's date- date2 -- overrides a posting's secondary date- assert -- appears on txns generated by close --assert- retain -- appears on txns generated by close --retain- start -- appears on txns generated by close --migrate/--close/--open/--assign- t -- appears on postings generated from timedot letters-- generated-transaction -- appears on txns generated by a periodic rule- modified-transaction -- appears on txns which have had auto postings added- generated-posting -- appears on generated postings- cost-posting -- appears on postings which have (or could have) a cost,- and which have equivalent conversion postings in the transaction- conversion-posting -- appears on postings which are to a V/Conversion account- and which have an equivalent cost posting in the transaction-- The second group above (generated-transaction, etc.) are normally hidden,- with a _ prefix added. This means print doesn't show them by default; but- you can still use them in queries. You can add the --verbose-tags flag to- make them visible in print output, which can be useful for troubleshooting.-- Directives- Besides transactions, there is something else you can put in a journal- file: directives. These are declarations, beginning with a keyword, that- modify hledger's behaviour. Some directives can have more specific subdi-- rectives, indented below them. hledger's directives are similar to- Ledger's in many cases, but there are also many differences. Directives- are not required, but can be useful. Here are the main directives:-- purpose directive- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- READING DATA:- Rewrite account names alias- Comment out sections of the file comment- Declare file's decimal mark, to help decimal-mark- parse amounts accurately- Include other data files include- GENERATING DATA:- Generate recurring transactions or bud- ~- get goals- Generate extra postings on existing =- transactions- CHECKING FOR ERRORS:- Define valid entities to provide more account, commodity, payee, tag- error checking- REPORTING:- Declare accounts' type and display order account- Declare commodity display styles commodity- Declare market prices P-- Directives and multiple files- Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which input- files they affect. Most often, a directive will affect the following en-- tries and included files if any, until the end of the current file - and no- further. You might find this inconvenient! For example, alias directives- do not affect parent or sibling files. But there are usually workarounds;- for example, put alias directives in your top-most file, before including- other files.-- The restriction, though it may be annoying at first, is in a good cause; it- allows reports to be stable and deterministic, independent of the order of- input. Without it, reports could show different numbers depending on the- order of -f options, or the positions of include directives in your files.-- Directive effects- Here are all hledger's directives, with their effects and scope summarised- - nine main directives, plus four others which we consider non-essential:-- di- what it does ends- rec- at- tive file- end?- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ac- Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and N- count its display order and type. Subdirectives: any text, ignored.- alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of cur- Y- rent file or end aliases. Command line equivalent: --alias- com- Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y- ment end comment.- com- Declares up to four things: 1. a commodity symbol, for checking N,N,Y,Y- mod- all amounts in all files 2. the display style for all amounts- ity of this commodity 3. the decimal mark for parsing amounts of- this commodity, in the rest of this file and its children, if- there is no decimal-mark directive 4. the precision to use for- balanced-transaction checking in this commodity, in this file- and its children. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives:- format (ignored). Command line equivalent: -c/--commodity-style- deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodi- Y- mal-mark ties in following entries until next decimal-mark or end of cur-- rent file. Included files can override. Takes precedence over- commodity and D.- include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they N- were written inline. Command line alternative: multiple- -f/--file- payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. N- P Declares the market price of a commodity on some date, for value N- reports.- ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future N- (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance- --budget.- Other- syntax:- apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in fol- Y- account lowing entries until end of current file or end apply account.- D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts;and, if Y,Y,N,N- there is no commodity directive for this commodity: its decimal- mark, balancing precision, and display style, as above.- Y Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in following Y- entries until end of current file.- = 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).- Other Other directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but ig-- Ledger nored.- direc-- tives-- account directive- account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that- amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these declara-- tions can provide several benefits:-- * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a reference.-- * They can store additional account information as comments, or as tags- which can be used to filter or pivot reports.-- * They can restrict which accounts may be posted to by transactions, eg in- strict mode, which helps prevent errors.-- * They influence account display order in reports, allowing non-alphabetic- sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).-- * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, eq-- uity, revenue, expense), enabling reports like balancesheet and incomes-- tatement.-- * They help with account name completion (in hledger add, hledger-web,- hledger-iadd, ledger-mode, etc.)-- They are written as the word account followed by a hledger-style account- name. Eg:-- account assets:bank:checking-- Ledger-style indented subdirectives are also accepted, but ignored:-- account assets:bank:checking- format subdirective ; currently ignored-- Account comments- Text following two or more spaces and ; at the end of an account directive- line, and/or following ; on indented lines immediately below it, form com-- ments for that account.-- Same-line account comments require two+ spaces before ; because that char-- acter can appear in account names.-- account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, at least 2 spaces before the semicolon- ; next-line comment- ; some tags - type:A, acctnum:12345-- Account tags- An account directive's comment may contain tags. These will be propagated- to all postings using that account, as hidden but queryable posting tags,- except where the posting already a tag of the same name. (Posting tags- override account tags.)-- Account error checking- By default, accounts need not be declared; they come into existence when a- posting references them. 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 that 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, or when you run hledger- check accounts, hledger will report an error if any transaction uses an ac-- count name that has not been declared by an account directive. Some notes:-- * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct ac-- count 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 of all types.-- * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" with a- wildcard; every account posted to must be declared.-- * If you use the --infer-equity flag, you will also need declarations for- the account names it generates.-- Account display order- Account directives also cause hledger to display accounts in a particular- order, not just alphabetically. Eg, here is a conventional ordering for- the top-level accounts:-- account assets- account liabilities- account equity- account revenues- account expenses-- Now hledger displays them in that order:-- $ hledger accounts- assets- liabilities- equity- revenues- expenses-- If there are undeclared accounts, those will be displayed last, in alpha-- betical order.-- Sorting is done within each group of sibling accounts, at each level of the- account tree. Eg, a declaration like account parent:child influences- child's position among its siblings.-- Note, it does not affect parent's position; for that, you need an account- parent declaration.-- Sibling accounts are always displayed together; hledger won't display x:y- in between a:b and a:c.-- An account directive both declares an account as a valid posting target,- and declares its display order; you can't easily do one without the other.-- Account types- hledger knows that in accounting there are three main account types:-- Asset A things you own- Liability L things you owe- Equity E owner's investment,- balances the two- above-- and two more representing changes in these:-- Revenue R inflows (also known- as Income)- Expense X outflows-- hledger also uses a few subtypes:-- Cash C liquid assets (subtype- of Asset)- Conversion V commodity conversions- equity (subtype of Eq-- uity)- Gain G capital gains/losses- (subtype of Revenue)-- As a convenience, hledger will detect most of these types automatically- from english account names. But it's better to declare them explicitly by- adding a type: tag in the account directives. The tag's value can be any- of the types or one-letter abbreviations above.-- Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will in-- herit their parent's type, or can override it:-- account assets ; type: A- account liabilities ; type: L- account equity ; type: E- account revenues ; type: R- account expenses ; type: X-- account assets:bank ; type: C- account assets:cash ; type: C-- account equity:conversion ; type: V-- account revenues:capital ; type: G-- This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and in-- comestatement reports, and querying by type:.-- Tips:-- * You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting:-- $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] [--locations]-- * It's a good idea to declare at least one account for each account type.- Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt certain reports.-- * The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows (using- Regular expressions).- If they don't work for you, just ignore them and declare your types with- type: tags.-- If account's name contains this case insensitive regular expression | its type is- --------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------- ^assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|current)(:|$) | Cash- ^assets?(:|$) | Asset- ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability- ^equity:(trad(e|ing)|conversion)s?(:|$) | Conversion- ^equity(:|$) | Equity- ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue- ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense-- * As mentioned above, subaccounts will inherit a type from their parent ac-- count. To be precise, an account's type is decided by the first of these- that exists:-- 1. A type: declaration for this account.-- 2. A type: declaration in the parent accounts above it, preferring the- nearest.-- 3. An account type inferred from this account's name.-- 4. An account type inferred from a parent account's name, preferring the- nearest parent.-- 5. Otherwise, it will have no type.-- * Account aliases can disrupt account types.-- alias directive- 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-- * combining two accounts into one, eg to see their sum or difference on one- line-- * 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.-- Account aliases are very powerful. They are generally easy to use cor-- rectly, but you can also generate invalid account names with them; more on- this below.-- 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 in-- cluded 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 af-- fects 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"-- Regex aliases- There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, indi-- cated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes. (This is the only place- where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular expression.)-- Eg:-- alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT-- or:-- $ hledger --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' ...-- Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by REPLACE-- MENT. REGEX is case-insensitive as usual.-- If you need to match a forward slash, escape it with a backslash, eg /\/=:.-- If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be referenced by- the usual backslash and number in REPLACEMENT:-- alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3- ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking"-- REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command line, to end of op-- tion argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace.-- Combining aliases- You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives and/or- command line options.-- Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, then- by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the effect of- previously applied aliases.-- In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be ap-- plied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal entry,- we apply:-- 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed first- (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top)-- 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line (left to- right).-- In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:-- * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first-- * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on-- * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.-- This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps provide- semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way independent of- which files are being read and in which order.-- In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show which- aliases are being applied when.-- Aliases and multiple files- As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not af-- fect 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-- 2023-01-01 ; 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-- 2023-01-01 ; affected by aliases above- foo 1- bar-- include c.journal ; also affected-- end aliases directive- 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-- Aliases can generate bad account names- Be aware that account aliases can produce malformed account names, which- could cause confusing reports or invalid print output. For example, you- could erase all account names:-- 2021-01-01- a:aa 1- b-- $ hledger print --alias '/.*/='- 2021-01-01- 1-- The above print output is not a valid journal. Or you could insert an il-- legal double space, causing print output that would give a different jour-- nal when reparsed:-- 2021-01-01- old 1- other-- $ hledger print --alias old="new USD" | hledger -f- print- 2021-01-01- new USD 1- other-- Aliases and account types- If an account with a type declaration (see Declaring accounts > Account- types) is renamed by an alias, normally the account type remains in effect.-- However, renaming in a way that reshapes the account tree (eg renaming par-- ent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could prevent child ac-- counts from inheriting the account type of their parents.-- Secondly, if an account's type is being inferred from its name, renaming it- by an alias could prevent or alter that.-- If you are using account aliases and the type: query is not matching ac-- counts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts command, eg- something like:-- $ hledger accounts --types -1 --alias assets=bassetts-- commodity directive- The commodity directive performs several functions:-- 1. It declares which commodity symbols may be used in the journal, enabling- useful error checking with strict mode or the check command. See Com-- modity error checking below.-- 2. It declares how all amounts in this commodity should be displayed, eg- how many decimals to show. See Commodity display style above.-- 3. (If no decimal-mark directive is in effect:) It sets the decimal mark to- expect (period or comma) when parsing amounts in this commodity, in this- file and files it includes, from the directive until end of current- file. See Decimal marks above.-- 4. It declares the precision with which this commodity's amounts should be- compared when checking for balanced transactions, anywhere in this file- and files it includes, until end of current file.-- Declaring commodities solves several common parsing/display problems, so we- recommend it.-- Note that effects 3 and 4 above end at the end of the directive's file, and- will not affect sibling or parent files. So if you are relying on them- (especially 4) and using multiple files, placing your commodity directives- in a top-level parent file might be important. Or, keep your decimal marks- unambiguous and your entries well balanced and precise.-- Omitting the commodity symbol will set the display style for just the- no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.-- Commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style command line- option.-- (Related: #793)-- Commodity directive syntax- A commodity directive is normally the word commodity followed by a sample- amount, and optionally a comment. Only the amount's symbol and the num-- ber's format is significant. Eg:-- commodity $1000.00- commodity 1.000,00 EUR- commodity 1 000 000.0000 ; the no-symbol commodity-- A commodity directive's sample amount must always include a period or comma- decimal mark (this rule helps disambiguate decimal marks and digit group- marks). If you don't want to show any decimal digits, write the decimal- mark at the end:-- commodity 1000. AAAA ; show AAAA with no decimals-- Commodity symbols containing spaces, numbers, or punctuation must be en-- closed in double quotes, as usual:-- commodity 1.0000 "AAAA 2023"-- Commodity directives normally include a sample amount, but can declare only- a symbol (ie, just function 1 above):-- commodity $- commodity INR- commodity "AAAA 2023"- commodity "" ; the no-symbol commodity-- Commodity directives may also be written with an indented format subdirec-- tive, as in Ledger. The symbol is repeated and must be the same in both- places. Other subdirectives are currently ignored:-- ; 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- an unsupported subdirective ; ignored by hledger-- Commodity tags- A commodity directive's comment may contain tags. These will be propagated- to all postings using that commodity in their main amount, as hidden but- queryable posting tags, except where the posting already a tag of the same- name. (Posting tags override account tags override commodity tags.)-- Commodity error checking- In strict mode (-s/--strict) (or when you run hledger check commodities),- hledger will report an error if an undeclared commodity symbol is used.- (With one exception: zero amounts are always allowed to have no commodity- symbol.) It works like account error checking (described above).-- decimal-mark directive- 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 pars-- ing 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 recom-- mend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg thousands- separators).-- include directive- You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include di-- rective, like this:-- include SOMEFILE-- This has the same effect as if SOMEFILE's content was inlined at this- point. (With any include directives in SOMEFILE processed similarly, re-- cursively.)-- Only journal files can include other files. They can include journal,- timeclock or timedot files, but not CSV files.-- If the file path begins with a tilde, that means your home directory: in-- clude ~/main.journal.-- If it begins with a slash, it is an absolute path: include- /home/user/main.journal. Otherwise it is relative to the including file's- folder: include ../finances/main.journal.-- Also, the path may have a file type prefix to force a specific file format,- overriding the file extension(s) (as described in Data formats): include- timedot:notes/2023.md.-- The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files. hledger's- globs are similar to zsh's: ? to match any character; [a-z] to match any- character in a range; * to match zero or more characters that aren't a path- separator (like /); ** to match zero or more subdirectories and/or zero or- more characters at the start of a file name; etc. For convenience, include- always excludes the current file. So, you can do-- * include *.journal to include all other journal files in the current di-- rectory (excluding dot files)-- * include **.journal to include all other journal files in this directory- and below (excluding dot files and top-level dot directories)-- * include timelogs/2???.timedot to include all timedot files named like a- year number.-- Note * and ** usually won't match dot files or dot directories, with one- exception: ** does search non-top-level dot directories. If this causes- problems, make your glob pattern more specific (eg **.journal instead of- **).-- If you are using many, or deeply nested, include files, and have an error- that's hard to pinpoint: a good troubleshooting command is hledger files- --debug=6 (or 7).-- P directive- The P directive declares a market price, which is a conversion rate between- two commodities on a certain date. This allows value reports to convert- amounts of one commodity to their value in another, on or after that date.- These prices are often obtained from a stock exchange, cryptocurrency ex-- change, or the foreign exchange market.-- The format is:-- P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT-- DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the commodity be-- ing 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 a $1.35-- # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward:- P 2010-01-01 a $1.40-- The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount values- in another commodity. See Value reporting.-- payee directive- payee PAYEE NAME-- This directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees which may ap-- pear 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 ; a comment-- Payees do not have tags (tags in the comment will be ignored).-- To declare the empty payee name, use "".-- payee ""-- Ledger-style indented subdirectives, if any, are currently ignored.-- tag directive- tag TAGNAME-- This directive can be used to declare a limited set of tag names allowed in- tags. TAGNAME should be a valid tag name (no spaces). Eg:-- tag item-id-- Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored.-- The "tags" check will report an error if any undeclared tag name is used.- It is quite easy to accidentally create a tag through normal use of colons- in comments; if you want to prevent this, you can declare and check your- tags .-- Periodic transactions- The ~ directive declares a "periodic rule" which generates temporary extra- transactions, usually recurring at some interval, when hledger is run with- the --forecast flag. These "forecast transactions" are useful for fore-- casting future activity. They exist only for the duration of the report,- and only when --forecast is used; they are not saved in the journal file by- hledger.-- Periodic rules also have a second use: with the --budget flag they set bud-- get goals for budgeting.-- Periodic rules can be a little tricky, so before you use them, read this- whole section, or at least the following 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 improve-- ment, but is worth studying.-- 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a nat-- ural 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 re-- ports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit in-- consistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from- 2023/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from- 2023/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10.-- Periodic rule syntax- A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the- date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: ~- looks like a recurring sine wave.):-- # every first of month- ~ monthly- expenses:rent $2000- assets:bank:checking-- # every 15th of month in 2023's first quarter:- ~ monthly from 2023-04-15 to 2023-06-16- expenses:utilities $400- assets:bank:checking-- The period expression is the same syntax used for specifying multi-period- reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies report periods;- here it specifies recurrence dates (the periods' start dates).-- Periodic rules and relative dates- Partial or relative dates (like 12/31, 25, tomorrow, last week, next quar-- ter) are usually not recommended in periodic rules, since the results will- change as time passes. If used, they will be interpreted relative to, in- order of preference:-- 1. the first day of the default year specified by a recent Y directive-- 2. or the date specified with --today-- 3. or the date on which you are running the report.-- They will not be affected at all by report period or forecast period dates.-- 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 2023"- ; ||- ; vv- ~ every 2 months in 2023, 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 expres-- sion.-- Auto postings- The = directive declares an "auto posting rule", which adds extra postings- to existing transactions. (Remember, postings are the account name &- amount lines below a transaction's date & description.)-- In the journal, an auto posting rule looks quite like a transaction, but- instead of date and description it has = (mnemonic: "match") and a query,- like this:-- = QUERY- ACCOUNT AMOUNT- ...-- Queries are just like command line queries; an account name substring is- most common. Query terms containing spaces should be enclosed in single or- double quotes.-- Each = rule works like this: when hledger is run with the --auto flag,- wherever the QUERY matches a posting in the journal, the rule's postings- are added to that transaction, immediately below the matched posting. Note- these generated postings are temporary, existing only for the duration of- the report, and only when --auto is used; they are not saved in the journal- file by hledger.-- The postings can contain the special string %account which will be expanded- to the account name of the matched account.-- Generated postings' amounts can depend on the matched posting's amount. So- auto postings can be useful for, eg, adding tax postings with a standard- percentage. AMOUNT can be:-- * a number with no commodity symbol, like 2. The matched posting's commod-- ity symbol will be added to this.-- * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, like $2. This will be used- as-is.-- * an asterisk followed by a number, like *2. This will multiply the- matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) by the number.-- * an asterisk followed by an amount with commodity symbol, like *$2. This- multiplies and also replaces the commodity symbol with this new one.-- 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-- Note that depending fully on generated data such as this has some drawbacks- - it's less portable, less future-proof, less auditable by others, and less- robust (eg your balance assertions will depend on whether you use or don't- use --auto). An alternative is to use auto postings in "one time" fashion- - use them to help build a complex journal entry, view it with hledger- print --auto, and then copy that output into the journal file to make it- permanent.-- 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:-- * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for bal-- ancedness,-- * 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 back-- ground.-- 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 in-- fer amounts.-- 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".-- Auto postings on forecast transactions only- Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast transac-- tions but not recorded transactions, by adding tag:_generated-transaction- to their QUERY. This can be useful when generating new journal entries to- be saved in the journal.-- Other syntax- hledger journal format supports quite a few other features, mainly to make- interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier. Note some of the- features below are powerful and can be useful in special cases, but in gen-- eral, features in this section are considered less important or even not- recommended for most users. Downsides are mentioned to help you decide if- you want to use them.-- Balance assignments- Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like bal-- ance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the equals- sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the asser-- tion. 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).-- Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less explicit; to- know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the calcula-- tions yourself, instead of just reading it. Also balance assignments'- forcing of balances can hide errors. These things make your financial data- less portable, less future-proof, and less trustworthy in an audit.-- Balance assignments and costs- A cost in a balance assignment will cause the calculated amount to have- that cost attached:-- 2019/1/1- (a) = $1 @ a2-- $ hledger print --explicit- 2019-01-01- (a) $1 @ a2 = $1 @ a2-- Balance assignments and multiple files- Balance assignments handle multiple files like balance assertions. They- see balance from other files previously included from the current file, but- not from previous sibling or parent files.-- Bracketed posting dates- For setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger's bracketed- date syntax is also supported: [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2] in posting- comments. 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.-- Downsides: another syntax to learn, redundant with hledger's date:/date2:- tags, and confusingly similar to Ledger's lot date syntax.-- D directive- D AMOUNT-- This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent com-- modityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the journal.- This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the current- file.-- For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity direc-- tive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display style- for output). So its argument is not just a commodity symbol, but a full- amount demonstrating the style. The amount must include a decimal mark- (either period or comma). Eg:-- ; 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-- Interactions with other directives:-- For setting a commodity's display style, a commodity directive has highest- priority, then a D directive.-- For detecting a commodity's decimal mark during parsing, decimal-mark has- highest priority, then commodity, then D.-- For checking commodity symbols with the check command, a commodity direc-- tive is required (hledger check commodities ignores D directives).-- Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less ex-- plicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. It is usually an- unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to track multiple- commodities. D is overloaded with functions redundant with commodity and- decimal-mark. And it works differently from Ledger's D.-- apply account directive- This directive sets a default parent account, which will be prepended to- all accounts in following entries, until an end apply account directive or- end of current file. Eg:-- apply account home-- 2010/1/1- food $10- cash-- end apply account-- is equivalent to:-- 2010/01/01- home:food $10- home:cash $-10-- account directives are also affected, and so is any included content.-- Account names entered via hledger add or hledger-web are not affected.-- Account aliases, if any, are applied after the parent account is prepended.-- Downsides: this can make your financial data less explicit, less portable,- and less trustworthy in an audit.-- Y directive- Y YEAR-- or (deprecated backward-compatible forms):-- year YEAR apply year YEAR-- The space is optional. This sets a default year to be used for subsequent- dates which don't specify a year. Eg:-- Y2009 ; set default year to 2009-- 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15- expenses 1- assets-- year 2010 ; change default year to 2010-- 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected- expenses 1- assets-- 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31- expenses 1- assets-- Downsides: omitting the year (from primary transaction dates, at least)- makes your financial data less explicit, less portable, and less trustwor-- thy in an audit. Such dates can get separated from their corresponding Y- directive, eg when evaluating a region of the journal in your editor. A- missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today's date.-- Secondary dates- A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals- sign: DATE1=DATE2. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is as-- sumed. When running reports, the primary (left side) date is used by de-- fault, but with the --date2 flag (--aux-date or--effective also work, for- Ledger users), the secondary (right side) date will be used instead.-- The meaning of secondary dates is up to you. Eg it could be "primary is- the bank's clearing date, secondary is the date the transaction was initi-- ated, if different".-- In practice, this feature usually adds confusion:-- * You have to remember the primary and secondary dates' meaning, and follow- that consistently.-- * It splits your bookkeeping into two modes, and you have to remember which- mode is appropriate for a given report.-- * Usually your balance assertions will work with only one of these modes.-- * It makes your financial data more complicated, less portable, and less- clear in an audit.-- * It interacts with every feature, creating an ongoing cost for implemen-- tors.-- * It distracts new users and supporters.-- * Posting dates are simpler and work better.-- So secondary dates are officially deprecated in hledger, remaining only as- a Ledger compatibility aid; we recommend using posting dates instead.-- Star comments- Lines beginning with * (star/asterisk) are also comment lines. This fea-- ture allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal, allowing- them to fold/unfold/navigate it like an outline when viewed with org mode.-- Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn. Decreases your- journal's portability. And switching to Emacs org mode just for fold-- ing/unfolding meant losing the benefits of ledger mode; nowadays you can- add outshine mode to ledger mode to get folding without losing ledger- mode's features.-- Valuation expressions- Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double paren-- theses after an amount. hledger ignores these.-- Virtual postings- A posting with parentheses around the account name, like (some:account)- 10, is called an unbalanced virtual posting. These postings do not partic-- ipate in transaction balancing. (And if you write them without an amount,- a zero amount is always inferred.) These can occasionally be convenient- for special circumstances, but they violate double entry bookkeeping and- make your data less portable across applications, so many people avoid us-- ing them at all.-- A posting with brackets around the account name ([some:account]) is called- a balanced virtual posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction- must add up to zero, just like ordinary postings, but separately from them.- These are not part of double entry bookkeeping either, but they are at- least balanced. An example:-- 2022-01-01 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else- assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance each other- expenses:food $7 ; <-- expenses:food $3 ; <-- [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance each other- [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <-- (something:else) $5 ; <- this is not required to balance-- Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor brack-- eted, are called real postings. You can exclude virtual postings from re-- ports with the -R/--real flag or a real:1 query.-- Other Ledger directives- These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored. This al-- lows hledger to read more Ledger files, but be aware that hledger's reports- may differ from Ledger's if you use these.-- apply fixed COMM AMT- apply tag TAG- assert EXPR- bucket / A ACCT- capture ACCT REGEX- check EXPR- define VAR=EXPR- end apply fixed- end apply tag- end apply year- end tag- eval / expr EXPR- python- PYTHONCODE- tag NAME- value EXPR- --command-line-flags-- See also https://hledger.org/ledger.html for a detailed hledger/Ledger syn-- tax comparison.-- Ledger virtual costs- In Ledger, (@) UNITCOST and (@@) TOTALCOST are virtual costs, which do not- generate market prices. In hledger, these are equivalent to @ and @@.-- Ledger lot syntax- In Ledger, these optional annotations after an amount help specify the cost- basis of a newly acquired lot, or select existing lot(s) to dispose of:-- * {LOTUNITCOST} and {{LOTTOTALCOST}} (lot price)-- * [LOTDATE] (lot date)-- * (LOTNOTE) (lot note)-- hledger does not yet calculate lots itself, but it accepts these annota-- tions and will show them in print's txt, beancount, and json output for-- mats. This means you can use this syntax in your hledger journals (with an- amountless extra posting to help transactions balance, when needed), and- use the print command to export to Ledger or Beancount when you want to- calculate lots and capital gains.-- Ledger fixed lot costs- * {=UNITCOST} and {{=TOTALCOST}} (fixed price)-- * when buying, means "this cost is also the fixed value, don't let it- fluctuate in value reports"-- Probably equivalent to @/@@, I'm not sure.-- Beancount has simpler notation and different behaviour:-- * @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST-- * expresses a cost without creating a lot, as in hledger-- * when buying (acquiring) or selling (disposing of) a lot, and combined- with {...}: is not used except to document the cost/selling price-- * {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}}-- * when buying, expresses the cost for transaction balancing, and also- creates a lot with this cost basis attached-- * when selling,-- * selects a lot by its cost basis-- * raises an error if that lot is not present or can not be selected un-- ambiguously (depending on booking method configured)-- * expresses the selling price for transaction balancing-- * {}, {YYYY-MM-DD}, {"LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, "LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, YYYY-MM-DD,- "LABEL"}-- * when selling, other combinations of date/cost/label, like the above,- are accepted for selecting the lot.-- Currently, hledger-- * supports @ and @@-- * accepts the {UNITCOST}/{{TOTALCOST}} notation, but ignores it-- * and rejects the rest.--CSV- hledger can read transactions from CSV (comma-separated values) files.- More precisely, it can read DSV (delimiter-separated values), from a file- or standard input. Comma-separated, semicolon-separated and tab-separated- are the most common variants, and hledger will recognise these three auto-- matically based on a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file name extension or a csv:, ssv:- or tsv: file path prefix.-- (To learn about producing CSV or TSV output, see Output format.)-- Each CSV file must be described by a corresponding rules file. This con-- tains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout, date for-- mat etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and how to cate-- gorise transactions based on description or other attributes.-- By default, hledger expects this rules file to be named like the CSV file,- with an extra .rules extension added, in the same directory. Eg when asked- to read foo/FILE.csv, hledger looks for foo/FILE.csv.rules. You can spec-- ify a different rules file with the --rules option.-- 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-- There's an introductory Tutorial: Import CSV data on hledger.org, and more- CSV rules examples below, and a larger collection at https://github.com/si-- monmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv.-- CSV rules cheatsheet- The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order.- (Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; or * are ignored.)-- source optionally declare which file to read data- from- archive optionally enable an archive of imported files- encoding optionally declare which text encoding the- data has- separator declare the field separator, instead of rely-- ing on file extension- decimal-mark declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts,- when ambiguous- date-format declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times- timezone declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV- date-times- newest-first improve txn order when: there are multiple- records, newest first, all with the same date- intra-day-reversed improve txn order when: same-day txns are in- opposite order to the overall file- skip (at top level) skip header line(s) at start of- file- fields list name CSV fields for easy reference, and op-- tionally assign their values to hledger fields- Field assignment assign a CSV value or interpolated text value- to a hledger field- if block conditionally assign values to hledger fields,- or skip a record or end (skip rest of file)- if table conditionally assign values to hledger fields,- using compact syntax- skip (inside an if rule) skip current record(s)- end (inside an if rule) skip all remaining records- balance-type select which type of balance assertions/as-- signments to generate- include inline another CSV rules file-- Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are eval-- uated.-- source- If you tell hledger to read a csv file with -f foo.csv, it will look for- rules in foo.csv.rules. Or, you can tell it to read the rules file, with- -f foo.csv.rules, and it will look for data in foo.csv (since 1.30). These- are mostly equivalent, but the second method provides some extra features.- For one, the data file can be missing, without causing an error; it is just- considered empty.-- For more flexibility, add a source rule, which lets you specify a different- data file:-- source ./Checking1.csv-- If the file does not exist, it is just considered empty, without raising an- error.-- If you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it in- the ~/Downloads folder:-- source Checking1.csv-- You can use a glob pattern, to avoid specifying the file name exactly:-- source Checking1*.csv-- This has another benefit: if the pattern matches multiple files, hledger- will read the newest (most recently modified) one. This avoids problems if- you have downloaded a file multiple times without cleaning up.-- All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download CSV- files, then run hledger import rules/*.-- See also "Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule".-- Data cleaning / data generating commands- After source's file pattern, you can write | (pipe) and a data cleaning- command (or command pipeline). If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough, you- can pre-process the downloaded data here with a shell command or script, to- make it more suitable for conversion. The command will be executed by your- default shell, in the directory of the rules file, will receive the data- file's content as standard input, and should output zero or more lines of- character-separated-values, suitable for conversion by the CSV rules.-- Examples:-- source ./paypal.json | paypalcsv- source data/simplefin.json | simplefincsv - 'chase.*card'- source OfxDownload*.csv | grep -vE '^(([^,]*,){6}[^,]*|)$' | sort -t, -n +2- source History_for_Account_Z20144832*.csv # | grep -E '^([^,]*,){12}[^,]*$' | sed -E -e 's/^ //' -e 's/\.([0-9]),/.\10,/g' -e 's/,([0-9]+),/,\1.00,/g'-- Or, after source you can write | and a data generating command (with no- file pattern before the |). This command receives no input, and should- output zero or more lines of character-separated values, suitable for con-- version by the CSV rules.-- Examples:-- source | paypaljson | paypalcsv- source | paypalcsv data/paypal.json- source | simplefinjson >data/simplefin.json && simplefincsv data/simplefin.json 'chase.*card'- source | simplefincsv data/simplefin.json 'unify.*checking'-- (paypal* and simplefin* scripts are in bin/)-- Whenever hledger runs one of these commands, it will echo the command on- stderr. If the command produces error output, but exits successfully,- hledger will show the error output as a warning. If the command fails,- hledger will fail and show the error output in the error message.-- Added in 1.50; experimental.-- archive- With archive added to a rules file, the import command will archive each- successfully processed data file or data command output in a nearby data/- directory. The archive file name will be based on the rules file and the- data file's modification date and extension (or for a data-generating com-- mand, the current date and the ".csv" extension). The original data file,- if any, will be removed.-- Also, in this mode import will prefer the oldest file matched by the source- rule's glob pattern, not the newest. (So if there are multiple downloads,- they will be imported and archived oldest first.)-- Archiving is optional, but it can be useful for troubleshooting your CSV- rules, regenerating entries with improved rules, checking for variations in- your bank's CSV, etc.-- Added in 1.50; experimental.-- encoding- encoding ENCODING-- hledger normally expects non-ascii text to be using the system locale's- text encoding. If you need to read CSV files which have some other encod-- ing, you can do it by adding encoding ENCODING to your CSV rules. Eg: en-- coding iso-8859-1.-- The following encodings are supported:-- ascii, utf-8, utf-16, utf-32, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-2, iso-8859-3,- iso-8859-4, iso-8859-5, iso-8859-6, iso-8859-7, iso-8859-8, iso-8859-9,- iso-8859-10, iso-8859-11, iso-8859-13, iso-8859-14, iso-8859-15,- iso-8859-16, cp1250, cp1251, cp1252, cp1253, cp1254, cp1255, cp1256,- cp1257, cp1258, koi8-r, koi8-u, gb18030, macintosh, jis-x-0201, jis-x-0208,- iso-2022-jp, shift-jis, cp437, cp737, cp775, cp850, cp852, cp855, cp857,- cp860, cp861, cp862, cp863, cp864, cp865, cp866, cp869, cp874, cp932.-- Added in 1.42.-- 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.-- skip- skip N-- The word skip followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells hledger- to ignore this many non-empty lines at the start of the input data. You'll- need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines. Note, empty and- blank lines are skipped automatically, so you don't need to count those.-- skip has a second meaning: it can be used inside if blocks (described be-- low), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is true. Records- skipped in this way are ignored, except they are still required to be valid- CSV.-- 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-style date parsing pat-- tern - see https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For-- mat.html#v:formatTime. The pattern must parse the CSV date value com-- pletely. 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-- Note currently there is no locale awareness for things like %b, and setting- LC_TIME won't help.-- timezone- timezone TIMEZONE-- When CSV contains date-times that are implicitly in some time zone other- than yours, but containing no explicit time zone information, you can use- this rule to declare the CSV's native time zone, which helps prevent- off-by-one dates.-- When the CSV date-times do contain time zone information, you don't need- this rule; instead, use %Z in date-format (or %z, %EZ, %Ez; see the format-- Time link above).-- In either of these cases, hledger will do a time-zone-aware conversion, lo-- calising the CSV date-times to your current system time zone. If you pre-- fer to localise to some other time zone, eg for reproducibility, you can- (on unix at least) set the output timezone with the TZ environment vari-- able, eg:-- $ TZ=-1000 hledger print -f foo.csv # or TZ=-1000 hledger import foo.csv-- timezone currently does not understand timezone names, except "UTC", "GMT",- "EST", "EDT", "CST", "CDT", "MST", "MDT", "PST", or "PDT". For others, use- numeric format: +HHMM or -HHMM.-- newest-first- hledger tries to ensure that the generated transactions will be ordered- chronologically, including same-day transactions. Usually it can auto-de-- tect how the CSV records are ordered. But if it encounters CSV where all- records are on the same date, it assumes that the records are oldest first.- If in fact the CSV's records are normally newest first, like:-- 2022-10-01, txn 3...- 2022-10-01, txn 2...- 2022-10-01, txn 1...-- you can add the newest-first rule to help hledger generate the transactions- in correct order.-- # same-day CSV records are newest first- newest-first-- intra-day-reversed- If CSV records within a single day are ordered opposite to the overall- record order, you can add the intra-day-reversed rule to improve the order- of journal entries. Eg, here the overall record order is newest first, but- same-day records are oldest first:-- 2022-10-02, txn 3...- 2022-10-02, txn 4...- 2022-10-01, txn 1...- 2022-10-01, txn 2...-- # transactions within each day are reversed with respect to the overall date order- intra-day-reversed-- 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.-- CSV fields and hledger fields- This can be confusing, so let's start with an overview:-- * CSV fields are provided by your data file. They are named by their posi-- tion in the CSV record, starting with 1. You can also give them a read-- able name.-- * hledger fields are predefined; date, description, account1, amount1, ac-- count2 are some of them. They correspond to parts of a transaction's- journal entry, mostly.-- * The CSV fields and hledger fields are the only fields you'll be working- with; you can't define new fields, or variables as in a programming lan-- guage. (But you could add extra CSV fields to the data in preprocessing,- before running the rules.)-- * For each CSV record, you'll assign values to one or more of the hledger- fields to build up a transaction (journal entry). Values can be static- text, CSV field values from the current record, or a combination of- these.-- * For simple cases, you can give a CSV field the same name as one of the- hledger fields, then its value will be automatically assigned to that- hledger field.-- * CSV fields can only be read, not written to. They'll be on the right- hand side, with a % prefix. Eg-- * testing a CSV field's value: if %CSVFIELD ...-- * interpolating its value: HLEDGERFIELD %CSVFIELD-- * hledger fields can only be written to, not read. They'll be on the left- hand side (or in a fields list), with no prefix. Eg-- * setting the transaction's description to a value: description VALUE-- * setting the transaction's description to the second CSV field's value:- fields date, description, amount-- fields list- fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ...-- A fields list (the word fields followed by comma-separated field names) is- optional, but convenient. It does two things:-- 1. It names the CSV field in each column. This can be convenient if you- are referencing them in other rules, so you can say %SomeField instead- of remembering %13.-- 2. Whenever you use one of the special hledger field names (described be-- low), it assigns the CSV value in this position to that hledger field.- This is the quickest way to populate hledger's fields and build a trans-- action.-- Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the trans-- action's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for later- reference; and ignore the others":-- fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield-- In a fields list, the separator is always comma; it is unrelated to the CSV- file's separator. Also:-- * 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.-- * Field names may contain _ (underscore) or - (hyphen).-- * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name or an empty name.-- If the CSV contains column headings, it's convenient to use these for your- field names, suitably modified (eg lower-cased with spaces replaced by un-- derscores).-- Sometimes you may want to alter a CSV field name to avoid assigning to a- hledger field with the same name. Eg you could call the CSV's "balance"- field balance_ to avoid directly setting hledger's balance field (and gen-- erating a balance assertion).-- Field assignment- HLEDGERFIELD 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, fol-- lowed by a text value on the same line. This text value may interpolate- CSV fields, referenced either by their 1-based position in the CSV record- (%N) or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSVFIELD), and- regular expression match groups (\N).-- 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).-- Field names- Note the two kinds of field names mentioned here, and used only in hledger- CSV rules files:-- 1. CSV field names (CSVFIELD in these docs): you can optionally name the- CSV columns for easy reference (since hledger doesn't yet automatically- recognise column headings in a CSV file), by writing arbitrary names in- a fields list, eg:-- fields When, What, Some_Id, Net, Total, Foo, Bar-- 2. Special hledger field names (HLEDGERFIELD in these docs): you must set- at least some of these to generate the hledger transaction from a CSV- record, by writing them as the left hand side of a field assignment, eg:-- date %When- code %Some_Id- description %What- comment %Foo %Bar- amount1 $ %Total-- or directly in a fields list:-- fields date, description, code, , amount1, Foo, Bar- currency $- comment %Foo %Bar-- Here are all the special hledger field names available, and what happens- when you assign values to them:-- 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.-- 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.-- Posting comments can also contain a posting date. A secondary date, or a- year-less date, will be ignored.-- 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 ac-- count2. 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, in conditional rules.-- If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see be-- low), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" or- "income:unknown").-- amount field- There are several ways to set posting amounts from CSV, useful in different- situations.-- 1. amount is the oldest and simplest. Assigning to this sets the amount of- the first and second postings. In the second posting, the amount will- be negated; also, if it has a cost attached, it will be converted to- cost.-- 2. amount-in and amount-out work exactly like the above, but should be used- when the CSV has two amount fields (such as "Debit" and "Credit", or- "Inflow" and "Outflow"). Whichever field has a non-zero value will be- used as the amount of the first and second postings. Here are some tips- to avoid confusion:-- * It's not "amount-in for posting 1 and amount-out for posting 2", it- is "extract a single amount from the amount-in or amount-out field,- and use that for posting 1 and (negated) for posting 2".-- * Don't use both amount and amount-in/amount-out in the same rules- file; choose based on whether the amount is in a single CSV field or- spread across two fields.-- * In each record, at most one of the two CSV fields should contain a- non-zero amount; the other field must contain a zero or nothing.-- * hledger assumes both CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it au-- tomatically negates the amount-out values.-- * If the data doesn't fit these requirements, you'll probably need an- if rule (see below).-- 3. amountN (where N is a number from 1 to 99) sets the amount of only a- single posting: the Nth posting in the transaction. You'll usually need- at least two such assignments to make a balanced transaction. You can- also generate more than two postings, to represent more complex transac-- tions. The posting numbers don't have to be consecutive; with if rules,- higher posting numbers can be useful to ensure a certain order of post-- ings.-- 4. amountN-in and amountN-out work exactly like the above, but should be- used when the CSV has two amount fields. This is analogous to amount-in- and amount-out, and those tips also apply here.-- 5. Remember that a fields list can also do assignments. So in a fields- list if you name a CSV field "amount", that counts as assigning to- amount. (If you don't want that, call it something else in the fields- list, like "amount_".)-- 6. The above don't handle every situation; if you need more flexibility,- use an if rule to set amounts conditionally. See "Working with CSV >- Setting amounts" below for more on this and on amount-setting generally.-- 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 the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts and cur-- rency.-- if block- Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns in the CSV data.- This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can categorise trans-- actions, selecting an appropriate account name based on their description- (for example). There are two ways to write conditional rules: "if blocks",- described here, and "if tables", described below.-- An if block is the word if and one or more "matcher" expressions (can be a- word or phrase), one per line, starting either on the same or next line;- followed by one or more indented rules. Eg,-- if MATCHER- RULE-- or-- if- MATCHER- MATCHER- MATCHER- RULE- RULE-- If any of the matchers succeeds, all of the indented rules will be applied.- They are usually field assignments, but the following special rules may- also be used within an if block:-- * skip - skips the matched CSV record (generating no transaction from it)-- * end - skips the rest of the current CSV file.-- Some examples:-- # if the record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries"- if groceries- account2 expenses:groceries-- # if the record contains any of these phrases, set account2 and a transaction comment as shown- if- monthly service fee- atm transaction fee- banking thru software- account2 expenses:business:banking- comment XXX deductible ? check it-- # if an empty record is seen (assuming five fields), ignore the rest of the CSV file- if ,,,,- end-- Matchers- There are two kinds of matcher:-- 1. A whole record matcher is simplest: it is just a word, single-line text- fragment, or other regular expression, which hledger will try to match- case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record.- Eg: whole foods.-- 2. A field matcher has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name before- the pattern.- Eg: %3 whole foods or %description whole foods.- hledger will try to match the pattern just within the named CSV field.-- When using these, there's two things to be aware of:-- 1. Whole record matchers don't see the exact original record; they see a- reconstruction of it, in which values are comma-separated, and quotes- enclosing values and whitespace outside those quotes are removed.- Eg when reading an SSV record like: 2023-01-01 ; "Acme, Inc. " ; 1,000- the whole record matcher sees instead: 2023-01-01,Acme, Inc. ,1,000-- 2. Field matchers expect either a CSV field number, or a CSV field name de-- clared with fields. Anything else will cause it to match against the- empty string, and probably fail silently (this makes it easier to reuse- common rules with different CSV files). Don't use a hledger field name- here (see CSV fields and hledger fields).-- You can also prefix a matcher with ! (and optional space) to negate it. Eg- ! whole foods, ! %3 whole foods, !%description whole foods will match if- "whole foods" is NOT present. Added in 1.32.-- The pattern is, as usual in hledger, a POSIX extended regular expression- that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) and nothing else.- For more details and tips, see Regular expressions in CSV rules below.-- Multiple matchers- When an if block has multiple matchers, each on its own line,-- * By default they are OR'd (any of them can match).-- * Matcher lines beginning with & (or &&, since 1.42) are AND'ed with the- matcher above (all in the AND'ed group must match).-- * Matcher lines beginning with & ! (since 1.41, or && !, since 1.42) are- first negated and then AND'ed with the matcher above.-- You can also combine multiple matchers one the same line separated by &&- (AND) or && ! (AND NOT). Eg %description amazon && %date 2025-01-01 will- match only when the description field contains "amazon" and the date field- contains "2025-01-01". Added in 1.42.-- Match groups- Added in 1.32-- Matchers can define match groups: parenthesised portions of the regular ex-- pression which are available for reference in field assignments. Groups- are enclosed in regular parentheses (( and )) and can be nested. Each- group is available in field assignments using the token \N, where N is an- index into the match groups for this conditional block (e.g. \1, \2,- etc.).-- Example: Warp credit card payment postings to the beginning of the billing- period (Month start), to match how they are presented in statements, using- posting dates:-- if %date (....-..)-..- comment2 date:\1-01-- Another example: Read the expense account from the CSV field, but throw- away a prefix:-- if %account1 liabilities:family:(expenses:.*)- account1 \1-- if table- "if tables" are an alternative to if blocks; they can express many matchers- and field assignments in a more compact tabular format, like this:-- if,HLEDGERFIELD1,HLEDGERFIELD2,...- MATCHERA,VALUE1,VALUE2,...- MATCHERB && MATCHERC,VALUE1,VALUE2,... (*since 1.42*)- ; Comment line that explains MATCHERD- MATCHERD,VALUE1,VALUE2,...- <empty line>-- The first character after if is taken to be this if table's field separa-- tor. It is unrelated to the separator used in the CSV file. It should be- a non-alphanumeric character like , or | that does not appear anywhere else- in the table (it should not be used in field names or matchers or values,- and it cannot be escaped with a backslash).-- Each line must contain the same number of separators; empty values are al-- lowed. Whitespace can be used in the matcher lines for readability (but- not in the if line, currently). You can use the comment lines in the table- body. The table must be terminated by an empty line (or end of file).-- An if table like the above is interpreted as follows: try all of the lines- with matchers; whenever a line with matchers succeeds, assign all of the- values on that line to the corresponding hledger fields; If multiple lines- match, later lines will override fields assigned by the earlier ones - just- like the sequence of if blocks would behave.-- If table presented above is equivalent to this sequence of if blocks:-- if MATCHERA- HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1- HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2- ...-- if MATCHERB && MATCHERC- HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1- HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2- ...-- ; Comment line which explains MATCHERD- if MATCHERD- HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1- HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2- ...-- Example:-- if,account2,comment- atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it- %description groceries,expenses:groceries,- ;; Comment line that desribes why this particular date is special- 2023/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out-- balance-type- Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple =- type by default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding asser-- tion. You may find the subaccount-including variants more useful, eg if- you have created some virtual subaccounts of checking to help with budget-- ing. 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-- include- include RULESFILE-- This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. RULES-- FILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current file's di-- rectory. 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-- Working with CSV- Some 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 out-- put.-- Valid CSV- Note that hledger will only accept valid CSV conforming to RFC 4180, and- equivalent SSV and TSV formats (like RFC 4180 but with semicolon or tab as- separators). This means, eg:-- * Values may be enclosed in double quotes, or not. Enclosing in single- quotes is not allowed. (Eg 'A','B' is rejected.)-- * When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the quotes are- not allowed. (Eg "A", "B" is rejected.)-- * When values are not enclosed in quotes, they may not contain double- quotes. (Eg A"A, B is rejected.)-- If your CSV/SSV/TSV is not valid in this sense, you'll need to transform it- before reading with hledger. Try using sed, or a more permissive CSV- parser like python's csv lib.-- File Extension- To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error mes-- sages (and choose the right field separator character by default), it's- best if CSV/SSV/TSV files are named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv filename ex-- tension. (More about this at Data formats.)-- When reading files with the "wrong" extension, you can ensure the CSV- reader (and the default field separator) by prefixing the file path with- csv:, ssv: or tsv:: Eg:-- $ hledger -f ssv:foo.dat print-- You can also override the default field separator with a separator rule if- needed.-- Reading CSV from standard input- You'll need the file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also, since- hledger assumes journal format by default. Eg:-- $ cat foo.dat | hledger -f ssv:- print-- 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 specify a rules file with --rules, that rules file will be used for all- the CSV files.-- Reading files specified by rule- Instead of specifying a CSV file in the command line, you can specify a- rules file, as in hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD. By default this will read- data from foo.csv in the same directory, but you can add a source rule to- specify a different data file, perhaps located in your web browser's down-- load directory.-- This feature was added in hledger 1.30, so you won't see it in most CSV- rules examples. But it helps remove some of the busywork of managing CSV- downloads. Most of your financial institutions's default CSV filenames are- different and can be recognised by a glob pattern. So you can put a rule- like source Checking1*.csv in foo-checking.csv.rules, and then periodically- follow a workflow like:-- 1. Download CSV from Foo's website, using your browser's defaults-- 2. Run hledger import foo-checking.csv.rules to import any new transactions-- After import, you can: discard the CSV, or leave it where it is for a- while, or move it into your archives, as you prefer. If you do nothing,- next time your browser will save something like Checking1-2.csv, and- hledger will use that because of the * wild card and because it is the most- recent.-- Valid transactions- After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gener-- ated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing them, ap-- plying balance assignments, and canonicalising amount styles. Any errors- at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying the problem en-- try.-- 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 chrono-- logical order, and new records appear only at the new end.)-- A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, ex-- ist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. See:-- * https://hledger.org/cookbook.html#setups-and-workflows-- * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion-- Regular expressions in CSV rules- Regular expressions in if conditions (AKA matchers) are POSIX extended reg-- ular expressions, that also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>),- and nothing else. (For more detail, see Regular expressions.)-- Here are some examples that might be useful in CSV rules:-- * Is field "foo" truly empty ? if %foo ^$-- * Is it empty or containing only whitespace ? if %foo ^ *$-- * Is it non-empty ? if %foo .-- * Does it contain non-whitespace ? if %foo [^ ]-- Testing the value of numeric fields is a little harder. You can't use- hledger queries like amt:0 or amt:>10 in CSV rules. But you can often- achieve the same thing with a regular expression.-- Note the content and layout of number fields in CSV varies, and can change- over time (eg if you switch data providers). So numeric regexps are always- somewhat specific to your particular CSV data; and it's a good idea to make- them defensive and robust if you can.-- Here are some examples:-- * Does foo contain a non-zero number ? if %foo [1-9]-- * Is it negative ? if %foo --- * Is it non-negative ? if ! %foo --- * Is it >= 10 ? if %foo [1-9][0-9]+\. (assuming a decimal period and no- leading zeros)-- * Is it >= 10 and < 20 ? if %foo \b1[0-9]\.-- Setting amounts- Continuing from amount field above, here are more tips for amount-setting:-- 1. If the amount is in a single CSV field:-- a. If its sign indicates direction of flow:- Assign it to amountN, to set the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1- or 2 but can go up to 99.-- b. If another field indicates direction of flow:- Use one or more conditional rules to set the appropriate amount sign.- Eg:-- # assume a withdrawal unless Type contains "deposit":- amount1 -%Amount- if %Type deposit- amount1 %Amount-- 2. If the amount is in two CSV fields (such as Debit and Credit, or In and- Out):-- a. If both fields are unsigned:- Assign one field to amountN-in and the other to amountN-out. hledger- will automatically negate the "out" field, and will use whichever field- value is non-zero as posting N's amount.-- b. If either field is signed:- You will probably need to override hledger's sign for one or the other- field, as in the following example:-- # Negate the -out value, but only if it is not empty:- fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out- if %amount1-out [1-9]- amount1-out -%amount1-out-- c. If both fields can contain a non-zero value (or both can be empty):- The -in/-out rules normally choose the value which is- non-zero/non-empty. Some value pairs can be ambiguous, such as 1 and- none. For such cases, use conditional rules to help select the amount.- Eg, to handle the above you could select the value containing non-zero- digits:-- fields date, description, in, out- if %in [1-9]- amount1 %in- if %out [1-9]- amount1 %out-- 3. If you want posting 2's amount converted to cost:- Use the unnumbered amount (or amount-in and amount-out) syntax.-- 4. If the CSV has only balance amounts, not transaction amounts:- Assign to balanceN, to set a balance assignment on the Nth posting, causing- the posting's amount to be calculated automatically. balance with no num-- ber is equivalent to balance1. In this situation hledger is more likely to- guess the wrong default account name, so you may need to set that explic-- itly.-- Amount signs- There is some special handling making it easier to parse and to reverse- amount signs. (This only works for whole amounts, not for cost amounts- such as COST in amount1 AMT @ COST):-- * 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 "".-- It's not possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount to its- absolute value, ie discard its sign.-- Setting currency/commodity- If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount field(s):-- 2023-01-01,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-- 2023-01-01 foo- expenses:unknown $123.00- income:unknown $-123.00-- If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field:-- 2023-01-01,foo,USD,123.00-- You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special ef-- fect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the left,- with no separating space):-- fields date,description,currency,amount-- 2023-01-01 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-- 2023-01-01 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- When you are reading CSV data, eg with a command like hledger -f foo.csv- print, hledger will infer each commodity's decimal precision (and other- commodity display styles) from the amounts - much as when reading a journal- file without commodity directives (see the link).-- Note, the commodity styles are not inferred from the numbers in the origi-- nal CSV data; rather, they are inferred from the amounts generated by the- CSV rules.-- When you are importing CSV data with the import command, eg hledger import- foo.csv, there's another step: import tries to make the new entries conform- to the journal's existing styles. So for each commodity - let's say it's- EUR - import will choose:-- 1. the style declared for EUR by a commodity directive in the journal-- 2. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts in the journal-- 3. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts generated by the CSV- rules.-- TLDR: if import is not generating the precisions or styles you want, add a- commodity directive to specify them.-- 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-- How CSV rules are evaluated- Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated. If you get a confusing- error while reading a CSV file, it may help to try to understand which of- these steps is failing:-- 1. Any included rules files are inlined, from top to bottom, depth first- (scanning each included file for further includes, recursively, before- proceeding).-- 2. Top level rules (date-format, fields, newest-first, skip etc) are read,- top to bottom. "Top level rules" means non-conditional rules. If a- rule occurs more than once, the last one wins; except for skip/end- rules, where the first one wins.-- 3. The CSV file is read as text. Any non-ascii characters will be decoded- using the text encoding specified by the encoding rule, otherwise the- system locale's text encoding.-- 4. Any top-level skip or end rule is applied. skip [N] immediately skips- the current or next N CSV records; end immediately skips all remaining- CSV records (not normally used at top level).-- 5. Now any remaining CSV records are processed. For each CSV record, in- file order:-- * Is there a conditional skip/end rule that applies for this record ?- Search the if blocks, from top to bottom, for a succeeding one con-- taining a skip or end rule. If found, skip the specified number of- CSV records, then continue at 5.- Otherwise...-- * Do some basic validation on this CSV record (eg, check that it has at- least two fields).-- * For each hledger field (date, description, account1, etc.):-- 1. Get the field's assigned value, first searching top level assign-- ments, made directly or by the fields rule, then assignments made- inside succeeding if blocks. If there are more than one, the last- one wins.-- 2. Compute the field's actual value (as text), by interpolating any- %CSVFIELD references within the assigned value; or by choosing a- default value if there was no assignment.-- * Generate a hledger transaction from the hledger field values, parsing- them if needed (eg from text to an amount).-- This is all done by the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger can use- to read transactions from an input file. When all input files have been- read successfully, their transactions are passed to whichever hledger com-- mand the user specified.-- Well factored rules- Some things than can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules files:-- * Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files into a com-- mon.rules, and adding include common.rules to each CSV's rules file.-- * Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the frequently- used parts.-- CSV rules examples- 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.-- Coinbase- A simple example with some CSV from Coinbase. The spot price is recorded- using cost notation. The legacy amount field name conveniently sets amount- 2 (posting 2's amount) to the total cost.-- # Timestamp,Transaction Type,Asset,Quantity Transacted,Spot Price Currency,Spot Price at Transaction,Subtotal,Total (inclusive of fees and/or spread),Fees and/or Spread,Notes- # 2021-12-30T06:57:59Z,Receive,USDC,100,GBP,0.740000,"","","","Received 100.00 USDC from an external account"-- # coinbase.csv.rules- skip 1- fields Timestamp,Transaction_Type,Asset,Quantity_Transacted,Spot_Price_Currency,Spot_Price_at_Transaction,Subtotal,Total,Fees_Spread,Notes- date %Timestamp- date-format %Y-%m-%dT%T%Z- description %Notes- account1 assets:coinbase:cc- amount %Quantity_Transacted %Asset @ %Spot_Price_at_Transaction %Spot_Price_Currency-- $ hledger print -f coinbase.csv- 2021-12-30 Received 100.00 USDC from an external account- assets:coinbase:cc 100 USDC @ 0.740000 GBP- income:unknown -74.000000 GBP-- 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-- Paypal- Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some Pay-- pal-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:--Timeclock- hledger can read time logs in the timeclock time logging format of time-- clock.el. As with Ledger, hledger's timeclock format is a subset/variant- of timeclock.el's.-- hledger's timeclock format was updated in hledger 1.43 and 1.50. If your- old time logs are rejected, you should adapt them to modern hledger; for- now, you can restore the pre-1.43 behaviour with the --old-timeclock flag.-- Here the timeclock format in hledger 1.50+:-- # Comment lines like these, and blank lines, are ignored:- # comment line- ; comment line- * comment line-- # Lines beginning with b, h, or capital O are also ignored, for compatibility:- b SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]- h SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]- O SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]-- # Lines beginning with i or o are are clock-in / clock-out entries:- i SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ] ACCOUNT[ DESCRIPTION][;COMMENT]]- o SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ ACCOUNT][;COMMENT]-- The date is a hledger simple date (YYYY-MM-DD or similar). The time parts- must use two digits. The seconds are optional. A + or - four-digit time- zone is accepted for compatibility, but currently ignored; times are always- interpreted as a local time.-- In clock-in entries (i), the account name is required. A transaction de-- scription, separated from the account name by 2+ spaces, is optional. A- transaction comment, beginning with ;, is also optional. (Indented follow-- ing comment lines are also allowed, as in journal format.)-- In clock-out entries (o) have no description, but can have a comment if you- wish. A clock-in and clock-out pair form a "transaction" posting some num-- ber of hours to an account - also known as a session. Eg:-- i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 session1- o 2015/03/30 10:00:00-- $ hledger -f a.timeclock print- 2015-03-30 * 09:00-10:00- (session1) 1.00h-- Clock-ins and clock-outs are matched by their account/session name. If a- clock-out does not specify a name, the most recent unclosed clock-in is- closed. You can have multiple sessions active simultaneously. Entries are- processed in the order they are parsed. Sessions spanning more than one- day are automatically split at day boundaries.-- Eg, the following time log:-- i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some account optional description after 2 spaces ; optional comment, tags:- o 2015/03/30 09:20:00- i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another:account- o 2015/04/01 02:00:34- i 2015/04/02 12:00:00 another:account ; this demonstrates multple sessions being clocked in- i 2015/04/02 13:00:00 some account- o 2015/04/02 14:00:00- o 2015/04/02 15:00:00 another:account-- generates these transactions:-- $ hledger -f t.timeclock print- 2015-03-30 * optional description after 2 spaces ; optional comment, tags:- (some account) 0.33h-- 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59- (another:account) 1.64h-- 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00- (another:account) 2.01h-- 2015-04-02 * 12:00-15:00 ; this demonstrates multiple sessions being clocked in- (another:account) 3.00h-- 2015-04-02 * 13:00-14:00- (some account) 1.00h-- 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 these shell aliases at the command line:-- 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 Emacs's built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock-x.el, and- perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el-- * 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 exe-- cutable renamed.--Timedot- timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Compared- to timeclock format, it is more convenient for quick, approximate, and- retroactive time logging, and more human-readable (you can see at a glance- where time was spent). A quick example:-- 2023-05-01- hom:errands .... .... ; two hours; the space is ignored- fos:hledger:timedot .. ; half an hour- per:admin:finance ; no time spent yet-- hledger reads this as a transaction on this day with three (unbalanced)- postings, where each dot represents "0.25". No commodity symbol is as-- sumed, but we typically interpret it as hours.-- $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension (or timedot: prefix) is required- 2023-05-01 *- (hom:errands) 2.00 ; two hours- (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 ; half an hour- (per:admin:finance) 0-- A timedot file contains a series of transactions (usually one per day).- Each begins with a simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D), optionally be fol-- lowed on the same line by a transaction description, and/or a transaction- comment following a semicolon.-- After the date line are zero or more time postings, consisting of:-- * An account name - any hledger-style account name, optionally indented.-- * Two or more spaces - required if there is an amount (as in journal for-- mat).-- * A timedot amount, which can be-- * empty (representing zero)-- * a number, optionally followed by a unit s, m, h, d, w, mo, or y, repre-- senting a precise number of seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months- or years (hours is assumed by default), which will be converted to- hours according to 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo,- 365d = 1y.-- * one or more dots (period characters), each representing 0.25. These- are the dots in "timedot". Spaces are ignored and can be used for- grouping/alignment.-- * Added in 1.32 one or more letters. These are like dots but they also- generate a tag t: (short for "type") with the letter as its value, and- a separate posting for each of the values. This provides a second di-- mension of categorisation, viewable in reports with --pivot t.-- * An optional comment following a semicolon (a hledger-style posting com-- ment).-- There is some flexibility to help with keeping time log data and notes in- the same file:-- * Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored.-- * After the first date line, lines which do not contain a double space are- parsed as postings with zero amount. (hledger's register reports will- show these if you add -E).-- * Before the first date line, lines beginning with * (eg org headings) are- ignored. And from the first date line onward, Emacs org mode heading- prefixes at the start of lines (one or more *'s followed by a space) will- be ignored. This means the time log can also be a org outline.-- Timedot files don't support directives like journal files. So a common- pattern is to have a main journal file (eg time.journal) that contains any- needed directives, and then includes the timedot file (include time.time-- dot).-- Timedot examples- Numbers:-- 2016/2/3- inc:client1 4- fos:hledger 3h- biz:research 60m-- Dots:-- # 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 .-- $ 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-- Letters:-- # Activity types:- # c cleanup/catchup/repair- # e enhancement- # s support- # l learning/research-- 2023-11-01- work:adm ccecces-- $ hledger -f a.timedot print- 2023-11-01- (work:adm) 1 ; t:c- (work:adm) 0.5 ; t:e- (work:adm) 0.25 ; t:s-- $ hledger -f a.timedot bal- 1.75 work:adm- --------------------- 1.75-- $ hledger -f a.timedot bal --pivot t- 1.00 c- 0.50 e- 0.25 s- --------------------- 1.75-- Org:-- * 2023 Work Diary- ** Q1- *** 2023-02-29- **** DONE- 0700 yoga- **** UNPLANNED- **** BEGUN- hom:chores- cleaning ...- water plants- outdoor - one full watering can- indoor - light watering- **** TODO- adm:planning: trip- *** LATER-- Using . as account name separator:-- 2016/2/4- fos.hledger.timedot 4h- fos.ledger ..-- $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias '/\./=:' bal -t- 4.50 fos- 4.00 hledger:timedot- 0.50 ledger- --------------------- 4.50--PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS-Time periods- Report start & end date- Most hledger reports will by default show the full time period represented- by the journal. The report start date will be the earliest transaction or- posting date, and the report end date will be the latest transaction, post-- ing, or market price date.-- Often you will want to see a shorter period, such as the current month.- You can specify a start and/or end date with the -b/--begin, -e/--end, or- -p/--period options, or a date: query argument, described below. All of- these accept the smart date syntax, also described below.-- End dates are exclusive; specify the day after the last day you want to see- in the report.-- When dates are specified by multiple options, the last (right-most) option- wins. And when date: queries and date options are combined, the report pe-- riod will be their intersection.-- Examples:-- -b 2016/3/17- beginning on St. Patrick's day 2016-- -e 12/1- ending at the start of December 1st in the current year-- -p 'this month'- during the current month-- -p thismonth- same as above, spaces are optional-- -b 2023- beginning on the first day of 2023-- date:2023.. or date:2023-- same as above-- -b 2024 -e 2025 -p '2000 to 2030' date:2020-01 date:2020 :- during January 2020 (the smallest common period, with the -p overriding -b- and -e)-- Smart dates- In hledger's user interfaces (though not in the journal file), you can op-- tionally use "smart date" syntax. Smart dates can be written with english- words, can be relative, and can have parts omitted. Missing parts are in-- ferred as 1, when needed. Smart dates can be interpreted as dates or peri-- ods depending on the context.-- Examples:-- 2004-01-01, 2004/10/1, 2004.9.1, 20240504, 2024Q1 :- Exact dates. The year must have at least four digits, the month must be- 1-12, the day must be 1-31, the separator can be - or / or . or nothing.- The q can be upper or lower case and the quarter number must be 1-4.-- 2004-10- start of month-- 2004q3- start of third quarter of 2004-- q3 start of third quarter of current year-- 2004 start of year-- 10/1 or oct or october- October 1st in current year-- 21 21st day in current month-- yesterday, today, tomorrow- -1, 0, 1 days from today-- last/this/next day/week/month/quarter/year- -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period-- last/this/next tuesday- the previous occurrence of the named day, or the next occurrence af-- ter today-- last/this/next february- the previous occurrence of 1st of the named month, or the next oc-- currence after the current month-- in n days/weeks/months/quarters/years- n periods from the current period-- n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ahead- n periods from the current period-- n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ago- -n periods from the current period-- 20181201- 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day-- 201812- 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month-- Dates with no separators are allowed but might give surprising results if- mistyped:-- * 20181301 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid month) is parsed as an eight-digit- year-- * 20181232 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid day) gives a parse error-- * 201801012 (a valid YYYYMMDD followed by additional digits) gives a parse- error-- The meaning of relative dates depends on today's date. If you need to test- or reproduce old reports, you can use the --today option to override that.- (Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not affected by --today.)-- Report intervals- A report interval can be specified so that reports like register, balance- or activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a separate row- or column.-- The following standard intervals can be enabled with command-line flags:-- * -D/--daily-- * -W/--weekly-- * -M/--monthly-- * -Q/--quarterly-- * -Y/--yearly-- More complex intervals can be specified using -p/--period, described below.-- Date adjustments- Start date adjustment- If you let hledger infer a report's start date, it will adjust the date to- the previous natural boundary of the report interval, for convenient peri-- odic reports. (If you don't want that, specify a start date.)-- For example, if the journal's first transaction is on january 10th,-- * hledger register (no report interval) will start the report on january- 10th.-- * hledger register --monthly will start the report on the previous month- boundary, january 1st.-- * hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 will start the report on january- 5th [1].-- Also if you are generating transactions or budget goals with periodic- transaction rules, their start date may be adjusted in a similar way (in- certain situations).-- End date adjustment- A report's end date is always adjusted to include a whole number of inter-- vals, so that the last subperiod has the same length as the others.-- For example, if the journal's last transaction is on february 20th,-- * hledger register will end the report on february 20th.-- * hledger register --monthly will end the report at the end of february.-- * hledger register --monthly --end 2/14 also will end the report at the end- of february (overriding the requested end date).-- * hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 --end 2/14 will end the report on- march 4th [1].-- [1] Since hledger 1.29.-- Period headings- With non-standard subperiods, hledger will show "STARTDATE..ENDDATE" head-- ings. With standard subperiods (ie, starting on a natural interval bound-- ary), you'll see more compact headings, which are usually preferable.- (Though month names will be in english, currently.)-- So if you are specifying a start date and you want compact headings: choose- a start of year for yearly reports, a start of quarter for quarterly re-- ports, a start of month for monthly reports, etc. (Remember, you can write- eg -b 2024 or 1/1 as a shortcut for a start of year, or 2024-04 or 202404- or Apr for a start of month or quarter.)-- For weekly reports, choose a date that's a Monday. (You can try different- dates until you see the short headings, or write eg -b '3 weeks ago'.)-- Period expressions- The -p/--period option specifies a period expression, which is a compact- way of expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval.-- Here's a period expression with a start and end date (specifying the first- quarter of 2009):-- -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"-- Several keywords like "from" and "to" are supported for readability; these- are optional. "to" can also be written as ".." or "-". The spaces are- also optional, as long as you don't run two dates together. So the follow-- ing 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, these are also- equivalent to the above:-- -p "1/1 4/1"- -p "jan-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 date in the journal:-- -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january 1,- 2009- -p "since 2009/1" the same, since is a syn-- onym- -p "from 2009" the same- -p "to 2009" everything before january- 1, 2009-- You can also specify a period by writing a single partial or full date:-- -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1"- -p "2009/1" the month of january 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to- 2009/2/1"- -p "2009/1/1" the first day of 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to- 2009/1/2"-- or by using the "Q" quarter-year syntax (case insensitive):-- -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, equivalent to "2009/1/1 to- 2009/4/1"- -p "q4" fourth quarter of the current year-- Period expressions with a report interval- A period expression can also begin with a report interval, separated from- the start/end dates (if any) by a space or the word in:-- -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"- -p "monthly in 2008"- -p "quarterly"-- More complex report intervals- Some more complex intervals can be specified within period expressions,- such as:-- * biweekly (every two weeks)-- * fortnightly-- * bimonthly (every two months)-- * every day|week|month|quarter|year-- * every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years-- Weekly on a custom day:-- * every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the num-- ber)-- * every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case insen-- sitive)-- Monthly on a custom day:-- * every Nth day [of month] (31st day will be adjusted to each month's last- day)-- * every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]-- Yearly on a custom month and 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 "bimonthly from 2008"- -p "every 2 weeks"- -p "every 5 months from- 2009/03"- -p "every 2nd day of week" periods will go from Tue to Tue- -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"-- Multiple weekday intervals- This special form is also supported:-- * every WEEKDAYNAME,WEEKDAYNAME,... (full or three-letter english weekday- names, case insensitive)-- Also, weekday and weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and- sat,sun.-- This 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, which is un-- usual. (Related: #1632)-- Examples:-- -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be- mon,wed,fri" Mon-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, usually preferred: -NUM), reports- will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding deeper subaccounts.- Use this when you want a summary with less detail. This flag has the same- effect as a depth: query argument. So all of these are equivalent:- depth:2, --depth=2, -2.-- You can also provide custom depths for specific accounts, by providing a- REGEX=NUM argument instead of just NUM (since 1.41). For example, --depth- assets=2 (or depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts matching the regular- expression "assets" to depth 2. So assets:bank:savings would be collapsed- to assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card would not be affected.-- If REGEX contains spaces or other special characters, enclose it in quotes- in the usual way. Eg: --depth 'credit card=2'-- Combining depth options- If a command line contains multiple general depth options, the last one- wins. (Useful for overriding a depth specified by scripts.)-- Or a command may contain a combination of general and custom depth options.- In this case, the most specifically (deepest) matching option wins. Some- examples:-- * --depth assets=3 --depth expenses=2 --depth 1 would collapse accounts- containing "assets" to depth 3, accounts containing "expenses" to depth- 2, and all other accounts to depth 1.-- * --depth assets=1 --depth savings=2 would collapse assets:bank:savings to- depth 2 (not depth 1; because "savings" matches a deeper part of the ac-- count name than "assets").-- Note currently, to override a custom depth option --depth REGEX=NUM with a- later option, the later option must use the same REGEX.--Queries- Many hledger commands accept query arguments, which restrict their scope- and let you report on a precise subset of your data. Here's a quick- overview of hledger's queries:-- * By default, a query argument is treated as a case-insensitive substring- pattern for matching account names. Eg:-- dining groceries- car:fuel-- * Patterns containing spaces or other special characters must be enclosed- in single or double quotes:-- 'personal care'-- * Patterns are actually regular expressions, so you can add regexp- metacharacters for more precision (or you may need to backslash-escape- certain characters; see "Regular expressions" above):-- '^expenses\b'- 'food$'- 'fuel|repair'- 'accounts (payable|receivable)'-- * To match something other than the account name, you can add a query type- prefix, such as:-- date:202312-- status:- desc:amazon- cur:USD- cur:\\$- amt:'>0'- acct:groceries (but acct: is the default, so we usually don't bother- writing it)-- * To negate a query, add a not: prefix:-- not:status:'*'- not:desc:'opening|closing'- not:cur:USD-- * Multiple query terms can be combined, as space-separated queries Eg:- hledger print date:2022 desc:amazon desc:amzn (show transactions dated in- 2022 whose description contains "amazon" or "amzn").-- * Or more flexibly as boolean queries. Eg: hledger print expr:'date:2022- and (desc:amazon or desc:amzn) and not date:202210'-- All hledger commands use the same query language, but different commands- may interpret the query in different ways. We haven't described the com-- mands yet (that's coming in PART 4: COMMANDS below) but here's the gist of- it:-- * Transaction-oriented commands (print, aregister, close, import, descrip-- tions..) try to match transactions (including the transaction's post-- ings).-- * Posting-oriented commands (register, balance, balancesheet, incomestate-- ment, accounts..) try to match postings. Postings inherit their trans-- action's attributes for querying purposes, so transaction fields like- date or description can still be referenced in a posting query.-- * A few commands match in more specific ways. (Eg aregister, which has a- special first argument.)-- Query types- Here are the query types available:-- acct: query- acct:REGEX, or just REGEX- Match account names containing this case insensitive regular expression.- This is the default query type, so we usually don't bother writing the- "acct:" prefix.-- amt: query- amt:N, amt:'<N', 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.) amt: needs quotes to hide the less than/greater than- sign from the command line shell.-- 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.-- Keep in mind that amt: matches posting amounts, not account balances.-- code: query- code:REGEX- Match by transaction code (eg check number).-- cur: query- cur:REGEX- Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose currency/commod-- ity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (Contrary to hledger's usual infix- matching. To do infix matching, write .*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 will usually- need one more level of escaping. Eg to match the dollar sign: cur:\\$ or- cur:'\$'-- desc: query- desc:REGEX- Match transaction descriptions.-- date: query- date:PERIODEXPR- Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the speci-- fied period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression. Examples:- date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter.-- PERIODEXPR may include a report interval (since 1.52). On the command- line, this is equivalent to specifying a report interval with a command- line option. In other contexts (hledger-ui, hledger-web), the report in-- terval may be ignored.-- date2: query- date2:PERIODEXPR- If you use secondary dates: this matches secondary dates within the speci-- fied period. It is not affected by the --date2 flag. A report interval in- PERIODEXPR will be ignored.-- depth: query- depth:[REGEXP=]N- Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this depth,- optionally only for accounts matching a provided regular expression. See- Depth for detailed rules.-- note: query- note:REGEX- Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the- whole description if there's no |).-- payee: query- payee:REGEX- Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of |,- or the whole description if there's no |).-- real: query- real:, real:0- Match real or virtual postings respectively.-- status: query- status:, status:!, status:*- Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.-- type: query- type:TYPECODES- Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types). TYPECODES- is one or more of the single-letter account type codes ALERXCVG, case in-- sensitive. Note type:A, type:E, and type:R will also match their respec-- tive subtypes C (Cash), V (Conversion), and G (Gain). Certain kinds of ac-- count alias can disrupt account types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and- account types.-- tag: query- tag:NAMEREGEX[=VALREGEX]- Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. Note:-- * Both regular expressions do infix matching. If you need a complete- match, use ^ and $.- Eg: tag:'^fullname$', tag:'^fullname$=^fullvalue$-- * To match values, ignoring names, do tag:.=VALREGEX-- * Accounts also inherit the tags of their parent accounts.-- * Postings also inherit the tags of their account and their transaction .-- * Transactions also acquire the tags of their postings.-- Negative queries- not: query- not:QUERY- You can prepend not: to a query to negate the match.- Eg: not:equity, not:desc:apple- (Also, a trick: not:not:... can sometimes solve query problems conve-- niently.)-- Space-separated queries- When given multiple space-separated 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.-- The print command is a little different, showing 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.-- Boolean queries- You can write more complicated "boolean" query expressions, enclosed in- quotes and prefixed with expr:. These can combine subqueries with NOT,- AND, OR operators (case insensitive), and parentheses for grouping. Eg, to- show transactions involving both cash and expense accounts:-- hledger print expr:'cash AND expenses'-- The prefix and enclosing quotes are required, so don't write hledger print- cash AND expenses. That would be a space-separated query showing transac-- tions involving accounts with any of "cash", "and", "expenses" in their- names.-- You can write space-separated queries inside a boolean query, and they will- combine as described above, but it might be confusing and best avoided. Eg- these are equivalent, showing transactions involving cash or expenses ac-- counts:-- hledger print expr:'cash expenses'- hledger print cash expenses-- There is a restriction with date: queries: they may not be used inside OR- expressions.-- Actually, there are three types of boolean query: expr: for general use,- and any: and all: variants which can be useful with print.-- expr: query- expr:'QUERYEXPR'- For example, expr:'date:lastmonth AND NOT (food OR rent)' means "match- things which are dated in the last month and do not have food or rent in- the account name".-- When using expr: with transaction-oriented commands like print, post-- ing-oriented query terms like acct: and amt: are considered to match the- transaction if they match any of its postings.- So, hledger print expr:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions with (at- least one posting involving a cash account) and (at least one posting with- a positive amount)".-- any: query- any:'QUERYEXPR'- Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like print, it- matches the transaction only if a posting can be matched by all of QUERY-- EXPR.- So, hledger print any:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions where at- least one posting posts a positive amount to a cash account".-- all: query- all:'QUERYEXPR'- Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like print, it- matches the transaction only if all postings are matched by all of QUERY-- EXPR (and there is at least one posting).- So, hledger print all:'cash and amt:0' means "show transactions where all- postings involve a cash account and have a zero amount".- Or, hledger print all:'cash or checking' means "show transactions which- touch only cash and/or checking accounts".-- Queries and command options- Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is- equivalent to --depth 2, date:2023 is equivalent to -p 2023, 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, #1625.)--Pivoting- Normally, hledger groups amounts and displays their totals by account- (name). With --pivot PIVOTEXPR, some other field's (or multiple fields')- value is used as a synthetic account name, causing different grouping and- display. PIVOTEXPR can be-- * any of these standard transaction or posting fields (their value is sub-- stituted): status, code, desc, payee, note, acct, comm/cur, amt, cost-- * or a tag name-- * or any combination of these, colon-separated.-- Some special cases:-- * Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate ac-- count hierarchy.-- * When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the tag's- first value will be used as the pivoted value.-- * When a posting has multiple commodities, the pivoted value of- "comm"/"cur" will be "". Also when an unrecognised tag name or field is- provided, its pivoted value will be "". (If this causes confusing out-- put, consider excluding those postings from the report.)-- Examples:-- 2016/02/16 Yearly Dues Payment- assets:bank account 2 EUR- income:dues -2 EUR ; member: John Doe, kind: Lifetime-- Normal balance report showing account names:-- $ hledger balance- 2 EUR assets:bank account- -2 EUR income:dues- --------------------- 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):-- $ 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-- Hierarchical reports can be generated with multiple pivot values:-- $ hledger balance Income:Dues --pivot kind:member- -2 EUR Lifetime:John Doe- --------------------- -2 EUR--Generating data- hledger can enrich the data provided to it, or generate new data, in a num-- ber of ways. Mostly, this is done only if you request it:-- * Missing amounts or missing costs in transactions are inferred automati-- cally when possible.-- * The --infer-equity flag infers missing conversion equity postings from- @/@@ costs.-- * The --infer-costs flag infers missing costs from conversion equity post-- ings.-- * The --infer-market-prices flag infers P price directives from costs.-- * The --auto flag adds extra postings to transactions matched by auto post-- ing rules.-- * The --forecast option generates transactions from periodic transaction- rules.-- * The balance --budget report infers budget goals from periodic transaction- rules.-- * Commands like close, rewrite, and hledger-interest generate transactions- or postings.-- * CSV data is converted to transactions by applying CSV conversion rules..- etc.-- Such generated data is temporary, existing only at report time. You can- convert it to permanent recorded data by, eg, capturing the output of- hledger print and saving it in your journal file. This can sometimes be- useful as a data entry aid.-- If you are curious what data is being generated and why, run hledger print- -x --verbose-tags. -x/--explicit shows inferred amounts and --verbose-tags- adds tags like generated-transaction (from periodic rules) and gener-- ated-posting, modified (from auto posting rules). Similar hidden tags- (with an underscore prefix) are always present, also, so you can always- match such data with queries like tag:generated or tag:modified.--Forecasting- Forecasting, or speculative future reporting, can be useful for estimating- future balances, or for exploring different future scenarios.-- The simplest and most flexible way to do it with hledger is to manually- record a bunch of future-dated transactions. You could keep these in a- separate future.journal and include that with -f only when you want to see- them.-- --forecast- There is another way: with the --forecast option, hledger can generate tem-- porary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according to peri-- odic transaction rules defined in the journal. Each rule can generate mul-- tiple recurring transactions, so by changing one rule you can change many- forecasted transactions.-- Forecast transactions usually start after ordinary transactions end. By- default, they begin after your latest-dated ordinary transaction, or today,- whichever is later, and they end six months from today. (The exact rules- are a little more complicated, and are given below.)-- This is the "forecast period", which need not be the same as the report pe-- riod. You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the future, or to- force forecast transactions to overlap your ordinary transactions - by giv-- ing the --forecast option a period expression argument, like --fore-- cast=..2099 or --forecast=2023-02-15... Note that the = is required.-- Inspecting forecast transactions- print is the best command for inspecting and troubleshooting forecast- transactions. Eg:-- ~ monthly from 2022-12-20 rent- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- $ hledger print --forecast --today=2023/4/21- 2023-05-20 rent- ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- 2023-06-20 rent- ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- 2023-07-20 rent- ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- 2023-08-20 rent- ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- 2023-09-20 rent- ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20- assets:bank:checking- expenses:rent $1000-- Here there are no ordinary transactions, so the forecasted transactions be-- gin on the first occurrence after today's date. (You won't normally use- --today; it's just to make these examples reproducible.)-- Forecast reports- Forecast transactions affect all reports, as you would expect. Eg:-- $ hledger areg rent --forecast --today=2023/4/21- Transactions in expenses:rent and subaccounts:- 2023-05-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $1000- 2023-06-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $2000- 2023-07-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $3000- 2023-08-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $4000- 2023-09-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $5000-- $ hledger bal -M expenses --forecast --today=2023/4/21- Balance changes in 2023-05-01..2023-09-30:-- || May Jun Jul Aug Sep- ===============++===================================- expenses:rent || $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000- ---------------++------------------------------------ || $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000-- Forecast tags- Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag, _gener-- ated-transaction. So if you ever need to match forecast transactions, you- could use tag:_generated-transaction (or just tag:generated) in a query.-- For troubleshooting, you can add the --verbose-tags flag. Then, visible- generated-transaction tags will be added also, so you can view them with- the print command. Their value indicates which periodic rule was responsi-- ble.-- Forecast period, in detail- Forecast start/end dates are chosen so as to do something useful by default- in almost all situations, while also being flexible. Here are (with luck)- the exact rules, to help with troubleshooting:-- The forecast period starts on:-- * the later of-- * the start date in the periodic transaction rule-- * the start date in --forecast's argument-- * otherwise (if those are not available): the later of-- * the report start date specified with -b/-p/date:-- * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal-- * otherwise (if none of these are available): today.-- The forecast period ends on:-- * the earlier of-- * the end date in the periodic transaction rule-- * the end date in --forecast's argument-- * otherwise: the report end date specified with -e/-p/date:-- * otherwise: 180 days (~6 months) from today.-- Forecast troubleshooting- When --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should- help:-- * Remember to use the --forecast option.-- * Remember to have at least one periodic transaction rule in your journal.-- * Test with print --forecast.-- * Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in your periodic- transaction rule.-- * Leave at least 2 spaces between the rule's period expression and descrip-- tion fields.-- * Check for future-dated ordinary transactions suppressing forecasted- transactions.-- * Try setting explicit report start and/or end dates with -b, -e, -p or- date:-- * Try adding the -E flag to encourage display of empty periods/zero trans-- actions.-- * Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with --fore-- cast=START..END-- * Consult Forecast period, in detail, above.-- * Check inside the engine: add --debug=2 (eg).--Budgeting- With the balance command's --budget report, each periodic transaction rule- generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and goals and ac-- tual performance can be compared. See the balance command's doc below.-- You can generate budget goals and forecast transactions at the same time,- from the same or different periodic transaction rules: hledger bal -M- --budget --forecast ...-- See also: Budgeting and Forecasting.--Amount formatting- Commodity display style- For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display- style (symbol placement, decimal mark and digit group marks, number of dec-- imal digits) to use in most reports. This is inferred as follows:-- First, if there's a D directive declaring a default commodity, that commod-- ity symbol and amount format is applied to all no-symbol amounts in the- journal.-- Then each commodity's display style is determined from its commodity direc-- tive. We recommend always declaring commodities with commodity directives,- since they help ensure consistent display styles and precisions, and bring- other benefits such as error checking for commodity symbols. Here's an ex-- ample:-- # Set display styles (and decimal marks, for parsing, if there is no decimal-mark directive)- # 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-- But for convenience, if a commodity directive is not present, hledger in-- fers a commodity's display styles from its amounts as they are written in- the journal (excluding cost amounts and amounts in periodic transaction- rules or auto posting rules). It uses-- * the symbol placement and decimal mark of the first amount seen-- * the digit group marks of the first amount with digit group marks-- * and the maximum number of decimal digits seen across all amounts.-- And as fallback if no applicable amounts are found, it would use a default- style, like $1000.00 (symbol on the left with no space, period as decimal- mark, and two decimal digits).-- Finally, commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style- command line option.-- Rounding- Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal- places. They are displayed with their original journal precisions by print- and print-like reports, and rounded to their display precision (the number- of decimal digits specified by the commodity display style) by other re-- ports. When rounding, hledger uses banker's rounding (it rounds to the- nearest even digit). So eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal digits appears- as "0".-- Trailing decimal marks- If you're wondering why your print report sometimes shows trailing decimal- marks, with no decimal digits; it does this when showing amounts that have- digit group marks but no decimal digits, to disambiguate them and allow- them to be re-parsed reliably (see Decimal marks). Eg:-- commodity $1,000.00-- 2023-01-02- (a) $1000-- $ hledger print- 2023-01-02- (a) $1,000.-- If this is a problem (eg when exporting to Ledger), you can avoid it by- disabling digit group marks, eg with -c/--commodity (for each affected com-- modity):-- $ hledger print -c '$1000.00'- 2023-01-02- (a) $1000-- or by forcing print to always show decimal digits, with --round:-- $ hledger print -c '$1,000.00' --round=soft- 2023-01-02- (a) $1,000.00-- Amount parseability- More generally, hledger output falls into three rough categories, which- format amounts a little bit differently to suit different consumers:-- 1. "hledger-readable output" - should be readable by hledger (and by hu-- mans)-- * This is produced by reports that show full journal entries: print, im-- port, close, rewrite etc.-- * It shows amounts with their original journal precisions, which may not be- consistent from one amount to the next.-- * It adds a trailing decimal mark when needed to avoid showing ambiguous- amounts.-- * It can be parsed reliably (by hledger and ledger2beancount at least, but- perhaps not by Ledger..)-- 2. "human-readable output" - usually for humans-- * This is produced by all other reports.-- * It shows amounts with standard display precisions, which will be consis-- tent within each commodity.-- * It shows ambiguous amounts unmodified.-- * It can be parsed reliably in the context of a known report (when you know- decimals are consistently not being shown, you can assume a single mark- is a digit group mark).-- 3. "machine-readable output" - usually for other software-- * This is produced by all reports when an output format like csv, tsv,- json, or sql is selected.-- * It shows amounts as 1 or 2 do, but without digit group marks.-- * It can be parsed reliably (if needed, the decimal mark can be changed- with -c/--commodity-style).--Cost reporting- In some transactions - for example a currency conversion, or a purchase or- sale of stock - one commodity is exchanged for another. In these transac-- tions there is a conversion rate, also called the cost (when buying) or- selling price (when selling). (In hledger docs we just say "cost" generi-- cally for convenience.) With the -B/--cost flag, hledger can show amounts- "at cost", converted to the cost's commodity.-- Recording costs- We'll explore several ways of recording transactions involving costs.- These are also summarised at hledger Cookbook > Cost notation.-- Costs can be recorded explicitly in the journal, using the @ UNITCOST or @@- TOTALCOST notation described in Journal > Costs:-- Variant 1-- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars $-135- assets:euros a100 @ $1.35 ; $1.35 per euro (unit cost)-- Variant 2-- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars $-135- assets:euros a100 @@ $135 ; $135 total cost-- Typically, writing the unit cost (variant 1) is preferable; it can be more- effort, requiring more attention to decimal digits; but it reveals the- per-unit cost basis, and makes stock sales easier.-- Costs can also be left implicit, and hledger will infer the cost that is- consistent with a balanced transaction:-- Variant 3-- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars $-135- assets:euros a100-- Here, hledger will attach a @@ a100 cost to the first amount (you can see- it with hledger print -x). This form looks convenient, but there are down-- sides:-- * It sacrifices some error checking. For example, if you accidentally- wrote a10 instead of a100, hledger would not be able to detect the mis-- take.-- * It is sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a dif-- ferent entry would be inferred and reports would be different.-- * The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.-- So generally this kind of entry is not recommended. You can make sure you- have none of these by using -s (strict mode), or by running hledger check- balanced.-- Reporting at cost- Now when you add the -B/--cost flag to reports ("B" is from Ledger's- -B/--basis/--cost flag), any amounts which have been annotated with costs- will be converted to their cost's commodity (in the report output). Ie- they will be displayed "at cost" or "at sale price".-- Some things to note:-- * Costs are attached to specific posting amounts in specific transactions,- and once recorded they do not change. This contrasts with market prices,- which are ambient and fluctuating.-- * Conversion to cost is performed before conversion to market value (de-- scribed below).-- Equity conversion postings- There is a problem with the entries above - they are not conventional Dou-- ble Entry Bookkeeping (DEB) notation, and because of the "magical" trans-- formation of one commodity into another, they cause an imbalance in the Ac-- counting Equation. This shows up as a non-zero grand total in balance re-- ports like hledger bse.-- For most hledger users, this doesn't matter in practice and can safely be- ignored ! But if you'd like to learn more, keep reading.-- Conventional DEB uses an extra pair of equity postings to balance the- transaction. Of course you can do this in hledger as well:-- Variant 4-- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars $-135- assets:euros a100- equity:conversion $135- equity:conversion a-100-- Now the transaction is perfectly balanced according to standard DEB, and- hledger bse's total will not be disrupted.-- And, hledger can still infer the cost for cost reporting, but it's not done- by default - you must add the --infer-costs flag like so:-- $ hledger print --infer-costs- 2022-01-01 one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each- assets:dollars $-135 @@ a100- assets:euros a100- equity:conversion $135- equity:conversion a-100-- $ hledger bal --infer-costs -B- a-100 assets:dollars- a100 assets:euros- --------------------- 0-- Here are some downsides of this kind of entry:-- * The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.-- * Instead of -B you must remember to type -B --infer-costs.-- * --infer-costs works only where hledger can identify the two equity:con-- version postings and match them up with the two non-equity postings. So- writing the journal entry in a particular format becomes more important.- More on this below.-- Inferring equity conversion postings- Can we go in the other direction ? Yes, if you have transactions written- with the @/@@ cost notation, hledger can infer the missing equity postings,- if you add the --infer-equity flag. Eg:-- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars -$135- assets:euros a100 @ $1.35-- $ hledger print --infer-equity- 2022-01-01- assets:dollars $-135- assets:euros a100 @ $1.35- equity:conversion:$-a:a a-100- equity:conversion:$-a:$ $135.00-- The equity account names will be "equity:conversion:A-B:A" and "equity:con-- version:A-B:B" where A is the alphabetically first commodity symbol. You- can customise the "equity:conversion" part by declaring an account with the- V/Conversion account type.-- Note you will need to add account declarations for these to your journal,- if you use check accounts or check --strict. (And unlike normal postings,- generated equity postings do not inherit tags from account declarations.)-- Combining costs and equity conversion postings- Finally, you can use both the @/@@ cost notation and equity postings at the- same time. This in theory gives the best of all worlds - preserving the- accounting equation, revealing the per-unit cost basis, and providing more- flexibility in how you write the entry:-- Variant 5-- 2022-01-01 one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each- assets:dollars $-135- equity:conversion $135- equity:conversion a-100- assets:euros a100 @ $1.35-- All the other variants above can (usually) be rewritten to this final form- with:-- $ hledger print -x --infer-costs --infer-equity-- Downsides:-- * The precise format of the journal entry becomes more important. If- hledger can't detect and match up the cost and equity postings, it will- give a transaction balancing error.-- * The add command does not yet accept this kind of entry (#2056).-- * This is the most verbose form.-- Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings- --infer-costs has certain requirements (unlike --infer-equity, which always- works). It will infer costs only in transactions with:-- * Two non-equity postings, in different commodities. Their order is sig-- nificant: the cost will be added to the first of them.-- * Two postings to equity conversion accounts, next to one another, which- balance the two non-equity postings. This balancing is checked to the- same precision (number of decimal places) used in the conversion post-- ing's amount. Equity conversion accounts are:-- * any accounts declared with account type V/Conversion, or their subac-- counts-- * otherwise, accounts named equity:conversion, equity:trade, or eq-- uity:trading, or their subaccounts.-- And multiple such four-posting groups can coexist within a single transac-- tion. When --infer-costs fails, it does not infer a cost in that transac-- tion, and does not raise an error (ie, it infers costs where it can).-- Reading variant 5 journal entries, combining cost notation and equity post-- ings, has all the same requirements. When reading such an entry fails,- hledger raises an "unbalanced transaction" error.-- Infer cost and equity by default ?- Should --infer-costs and --infer-equity be enabled by default ? Try using- them always, eg with a shell alias:-- alias h="hledger --infer-equity --infer-costs"-- and let us know what problems you find.--Value reporting- hledger can also show amounts "at market value", converted to some other- commodity using the market price or conversion rate on a certain date.-- This is controlled by the --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] option. We also provide- simpler -V and -X COMMODITY aliases for this, which are often sufficient.- The market prices are declared with a special P directive, and/or they can- be inferred from the costs recorded in transactions, by using the --in-- fer-market-prices flag.-- -X: Value in specified commodity- The -X COMM (or --exchange=COMM) option converts amounts to their market- value in the specified commodity, using the market prices in effect on the- valuation date(s), if any. (More on these in a minute.)-- Use this when you want to (eg) show everything in your base currency as far- as possible. (Commodities for which no conversion rate can be found, will- not be converted.)-- COMM should be the full commodity symbol or name. Remember to quote spe-- cial shell characters, if needed. Some examples:-- * -Xa-- * -X$ (nothing after $, no quoting needed)-- * -X CNY (the space after -X is optional)-- * -X 'red apples'-- * -X 'r&r'-- -V: Value in default commodity(s)- The -V/--market flag is a variant of -X where you don't have to specify- COMM. Instead it tries to guess a default valuation commodity for each- original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the valuation- date(s).-- -V can often be a convenient shortcut for -X MYCURRENCY, but not always;- depending on your data it could guess multiple valuation commodities. Usu-- ally you want to convert to a single commodity, so it's better to use -X,- unless you're sure -V is doing what you want.-- Valuation date- Market prices can change from day to day. hledger will use the prices on a- particular valuation date (or on more than one date). By default hledger- uses "end" dates for valuation. More specifically:-- * For single period reports (including normal print and register reports):-- * If an explicit report end date is specified, that is used.-- * Otherwise the latest transaction date or non-future P directive date is- used.-- * For multiperiod reports, each period is valued on its last day.-- This can be customised with the --value option described below, which can- select either "then", "end", "now", or "custom" dates.-- Finding market price- 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 costs.-- 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 possibili-- ties, it will give up (with a "gave up" message visible in --debug=2 out-- put). That limit is currently 1000.-- Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not converted.-- --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 costs as additional market prices (as Ledger does)- ? 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. 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 Value reporting 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.)-- * multicommodity transactions with equity postings, if cost is inferred- with --infer-costs.-- There is a limitation (bug) currently: when a valuation commodity is not- specified, prices inferred with --infer-market-prices do not help select a- default valuation commodity, as P prices would. So conversion might not- happen because no valuation commodity was detected (--debug=2 will show- this). To be safe, specify the valuation commmodity, eg:-- * -X EUR --infer-market-prices, not -V --infer-market-prices-- * --value=then,EUR --infer-market-prices, not --value=then --infer-mar-- ket-prices-- Signed costs and market prices can be confusing. For reference, here is- the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25. (If you think it should work- differently, see #1870.)-- 2022-01-01 Positive Unit prices- a A 1- b B -1 @ A 1-- 2022-01-01 Positive Total prices- a A 1- b B -1 @@ A 1--- 2022-01-02 Negative unit prices- a A 1- b B 1 @ A -1-- 2022-01-02 Negative total prices- a A 1- b B 1 @@ A -1--- 2022-01-03 Double Negative unit prices- a A -1- b B -1 @ A -1-- 2022-01-03 Double Negative total prices- a A -1- b B -1 @@ A -1-- All of the transactions above are considered balanced (and on each day, the- two transactions are considered equivalent). Here are the market prices- inferred for B:-- $ hledger -f- --infer-market-prices prices- P 2022-01-01 B A 1- P 2022-01-01 B A 1.0- P 2022-01-02 B A -1- P 2022-01-02 B A -1.0- P 2022-01-03 B A -1- P 2022-01-03 B A -1.0-- 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 fol-- lows, 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 be-- fore 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 con-- vert, and to what.-- * If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag,- costs determine it.-- Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not converted.-- --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 un-- specified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod reports, mar-- ket 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.-- Valuation examples- Here are some quick examples of -V:-- ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1- P 2016/11/01 a $1.10-- ; purchase some euros on nov 3- 2016/11/3- assets:euros a100- assets:checking-- ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21- P 2016/12/21 a $1.03-- How many euros do I have ?-- $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros- a100 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, de-- faults to today)-- $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V- $103.00 assets:euros-- 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, the latest transaction date or price date- is used as valuation date (2000-04-01):-- $ hledger -f- print --value=end- 2000-01-01- (a) 3 B-- 2000-02-01- (a) 3 B-- 2000-03-01- (a) 3 B-- The value today is the same (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect):-- $ 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-- 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.-- Related: #1625-- Effect of valuation on reports- Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of- hledger's reports. It may be useful when troubleshooting. If you find- problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible example. Re-- lated: #329, #1083.-- First, a quick glossary:-- cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s).-- value market value using available market price declarations, or the un-- changed 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 to-- day.-- report interval- a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the re-- port's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperiods).-- Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE,- type --value=now- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- print- posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at- amounts port end or date port or DATE/today- today journal end- balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged- asser-- tions/as-- signments-- register- starting cost value at re- valued at day value at re- value at- balance port or each historical port or DATE/today- (-H) journal end posting was made journal end- starting cost value at day valued at day value at day value at- balance before re- each historical before re- DATE/today- (-H) with port or posting was made port or- report journal journal- interval start start- posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at- amounts port or date port or DATE/today- journal end journal end- summary summarised value at pe- sum of postings value at pe- value at- posting cost riod ends in interval, val- riod ends DATE/today- amounts ued at interval- with re- start- port in-- terval- running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average- total/av- of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed- erage values values values values-- balance- (bs, bse,- cf, is)- balance sums of value at re- value at posting value at re- value at- changes costs port end or date port or DATE/today of- 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- (--bud-- get)- grand to- sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis-- tal played val- played val- valued played val- played values- ues ues ues-- balance- (bs, bse,- cf, is)- with re-- port in-- terval- starting sums of value at re- sums of values of value at re- sums of post-- balances costs of port start postings before port start ings before- (-H) postings be- of sums of report start at of sums of report start- fore report all postings respective post- all postings- start before re- ing dates before re-- port start port start- balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at- changes costs of --value=end postings in pe- change in DATE/today of- (bal, is, postings in riod at respec- each period, sums of post-- bs period tive posting valued at ings- --change, dates period ends- cf- --change)- end bal- sums of same as sums of values of period end value at- ances costs of --value=end postings from be- balances, DATE/today of- (bal -H, postings fore period start valued at sums of post-- is --H, from before to period end at period ends ings- bs, cf) report start respective post-- to period ing dates- end- budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance- amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end- (--bud- balances balances ances balances- get)- row to- sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver-- tals, row ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis-- averages played val- played val- played val- played values- (-T, -A) ues ues ues- column sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis-- totals played val- played val- values played val- played values- ues ues ues- grand to- sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average- tal, of column of column column totals of column of column to-- grand av- totals totals totals tals- erage--- --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero- starting balance.--PART 4: COMMANDS- Here are hledger's standard subcommands. You can list these by running- hledger. If you have installed more add-on commands, they also will be- listed.-- In the following command docs, each command's specific options are shown.- Most commands also support the general options described above, though some- of them might have no effect. (Usually if there's a sensible way for a- general option to affect a command, it will.) You can list all of a com-- mand's options by running hledger CMD -h.-- Help commands-- * commands - show the hledger commands list (default)-- * demo - show small hledger demos in the terminal-- * help - show the hledger manual with info, man, or pager-- User interface commands-- * repl - run commands from an interactive prompt-- * run - run commands from a script-- * ui - (if installed) run hledger's terminal UI-- * web - (if installed) run hledger's web UI-- Data entry commands-- * add - add transactions using terminal prompts-- * import - add new transactions from other files, eg CSV files-- Basic report commands-- * accounts - show account names-- * codes - show transaction codes-- * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols-- * descriptions - show transaction descriptions-- * files - show input file paths-- * notes - show note parts of transaction descriptions-- * payees - show payee parts of transaction descriptions-- * prices - show market prices-- * stats - show journal statistics-- * tags - show tag names-- Standard report commands-- * print - show transactions or export journal data-- * aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account-- * register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running total-- * 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-- Advanced report commands-- * balance (bal) - show balance changes, end balances, budgets, gains..-- * roi - show return on investments-- Chart commands-- * activity - show bar charts of posting counts per period-- Data generation commands-- * close - generate balance-zeroing/restoring transactions-- * rewrite - generate auto postings, like print --auto-- Maintenance commands-- * check - check for various kinds of error in the data-- * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files-- * setup - check and show the status of the hledger installation-- * test - run self tests-- Next, these commands are described in detail.--Help commands- commands- Show the hledger commands list.-- Flags:- --builtin show only builtin commands, not addons-- demo- Play demos of hledger usage in the terminal, if asciinema is installed.-- Flags:- -s --speed=SPEED playback speed (1 is original speed, .5 is half, 2- is double, etc (default: 2))-- Run this command with no argument to list the demos. To play a demo, write- its number or a prefix or substring of its title. Tips:-- Make your terminal window large enough to see the demo clearly.-- Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred playback speed, eg- -s4 to play at 4x original speed or -s.5 to play at half speed. The de-- fault speed is 2x.-- During playback, several keys are available: SPACE to pause/unpause, . to- step forward (while paused), CTRL-c quit.-- Examples:-- $ hledger demo # list available demos- $ hledger demo 1 # play the first demo at default speed (2x)- $ hledger demo install -s4 # play the "install" demo at 4x speed-- This command is experimental: there aren't many useful demos yet.-- help- Show the hledger user manual with info, man, or a pager. With a (case in-- sensitive) TOPIC argument, try to open it at that section heading.-- Flags:- -i show the manual with info- -m show the manual with man- -p show the manual with $PAGER or less- (less is always used if TOPIC is specified)-- This command shows the hledger manual built in to your hledger executable.- It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the terminal to a web- browser, or when the appropriate hledger manual or viewers are not in-- stalled properly on your system.-- By default it chooses the best viewer found in $PATH, trying in this order:- info, man, $PAGER, less, more, stdout. (If a TOPIC is specified, $PAGER- and more are not tried.) You can force the use of info, man, or a pager- with the -i, -m, or -p flags. If no viewer can be found, or if running- non-interactively, it just prints the manual to stdout.-- When using info, TOPIC can match either the full heading or a prefix. If- your info --version is < 6, you'll need to upgrade it, eg with 'brew in-- stall texinfo' on mac.-- When using man or less, TOPIC must match the full heading. For a prefix- match, you can write 'TOPIC.*'.-- Examples-- $ hledger help -h # show the help command's usage- $ hledger help # show the manual with info, man or $PAGER- $ hledger help 'time periods' # show the manual's "Time periods" topic- $ hledger help 'time periods' -m # use man, even if info is installed--User interface commands- repl- Start an interactive prompt, where you can run any of hledger's commands.- Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- This command is experimental and could change in the future.-- hledger repl starts a read-eval-print loop (REPL) where you can enter com-- mands interactively. As with the run command, each input file (or each in-- put file/input options combination) is parsed just once, so commands will- run more quickly than if you ran them individually at the command line.-- Also like run, the input file(s) specified for the repl command will be the- default input for all interactive commands. You can override this tem-- porarily by specifying an -f option in particular commands. But note that- commands will not see any changes made to input files (eg by add) until you- exit and restart the REPL.-- The command syntax is the same as with run:-- * enter one hledger command at a time, without the usual hledger first word-- * empty lines and comment text from # to end of line are ignored-- * use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed-- * type exit or quit or control-D to exit the REPL.-- While it is running, the REPL remembers your command history, and you can- navigate in the usual ways:-- * Keypad or Emacs navigation keys to edit the current command line-- * UP/DOWN or control-P/control-N to step back/forward through history-- * control-R to search for a past command-- * TAB to complete file paths.-- Generally repl command lines should feel much like the normal hledger CLI,- but you may find differences. repl is a little stricter; eg it requires- full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the commands- list).-- The commands and help commands, and the command help flags (CMD --tldr, CMD- -h/--help, CMD --info, CMD --man), can be useful.-- You can type control-C to cancel a long-running command (but only once;- typing it a second time will exit the REPL).-- And in most shells you can type control-Z to temporarily exit to the shell- (and then fg to return to the REPL).-- Examples- Start the REPL and enter some commands:-- $ hledger repl- Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.- % stats- Main file : .../2025.journal- ...- % stats -f 2024/2024.journal- Main file : .../2024.journal- ...- % stats- Main file : .../2025.journal- ...-- or:-- $ hledger repl -f some.journal- Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.- % bs- ...- % print -b 'last week'- ...- % bs -f other.journal- ...-- run- Run a sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line argu-- ments. Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- This command is experimental and could change in the future.-- You can use run in three ways:-- * hledger run -- CMD1 -- CMD2 -- CMD3 - read commands from the command- line, separated by ---- * hledger run SCRIPTFILE1 SCRIPTFILE2 - read commands from one or more- files-- * cat SCRIPTFILE1 | hledger run - read commands from standard input.-- run first loads the input file(s) specified by LEDGER_FILE or by -f op-- tions, in the usual way. Then it runs each command in turn, each using the- same input data. But if you want a particular command to use different in-- put, you can specify an -f option within that command. This will override- (not add to) the default input, just for that command.-- Each input file (more precisely, each combination of input file and input- options) is parsed only once. This means that commands will not see any- changes made to these files, until the next run. But the commands will run- more quickly than if run individually (typically about twice as fast).-- Command scripts, whether in a file or written on the command line, have a- simple syntax:-- * each line may contain a single hledger command and its arguments, without- the usual hledger first word-- * empty lines are ignored-- * text from # to end of line is a comment, and ignored-- * you can use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed, as on- the command line-- * these extra commands are available: echo TEXT prints some text, and exit- or quit ends the run.-- On unix systems you can use #!/usr/bin/env hledger run in the first line of- a command file to make it a runnable script. If that gives an error, use- #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger run.-- It's ok to use the run command recursively within a command script.-- You may find some differences in behaviour between run command lines and- normal hledger command lines. run is a little stricter; eg it requires- full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the commands- list), and command options must be written after the command name.-- Examples- Run commands from the command line:-- hledger -f some.journal run -- balance assets --depth 2 -- balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose -- stats-- This would load some.journal, run balance assets --depth 2 on it, then run- balance liabilities --depth 3 --transpose on /some/other.journal, and fi-- nally run stats on some.journal-- Run commands from standard input:-- (echo "files"; echo "stats") | hledger -f some.journal run-- Run commands as a script:-- $ cat report- #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger run -f some.journal-- echo "List of accounts in some.journal"- accounts-- echo "Assets of some.journal"- balance assets --depth 2-- echo "Liabilities from /some/other.journal"- balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose-- echo "Commands from another.script, applied to another.journal"- run -f another.journal another.script-- $ chmod +x report- $ ./report- List of accounts in some.journal- ...-- ui- Runs hledger-ui (if installed).-- web- Runs hledger-web (if installed).--Data entry commands- add- Add new transactions to a journal file, with interactive prompting.-- Flags:- --no-new-accounts don't allow creating new accounts-- Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or gen-- erate 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 main journal file (which should be in journal for-- mat). Existing transactions are not changed. This is one of the few- hledger commands that writes to the journal file (see also import).-- 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 con-- trol-d or control-c to exit.-- Features:-- * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by descrip-- tion) 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, payees/de-- scriptions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is- empty, it will insert the default value.-- * 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 sup-- ports it.-- Notes:-- * If you enter a number with no commodity symbol, and you have declared a- default commodity with a D directive, you might expect add to add this- symbol for you. It does not do this; we assume that if you are using a D- directive you prefer not to see the commodity symbol repeated on amounts- in the journal.-- * add creates entries in journal format; it won't work with timeclock or- timedot files.-- * There is a known issue on Windows if this hledger version is built from- stackage: the prompts will show ANSI junk instead of colours (#2410).- You can avoid this by using official hledger release binaries or by- building it with haskeline >=0.8.4; or by running add with --color=no,- perhaps configured in your config file.-- Examples:-- * Record new transactions, saving to the default journal file:-- hledger add-- * Add transactions to 2024.journal, but also load 2023.journal for comple-- tions:-- hledger add --file 2024.journal --file 2023.journal-- * Provide answers for the first four prompts:-- hledger add today 'best buy' expenses:supplies '$20'-- There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html.-- add and balance assertions- Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing AMOUNT =- BALANCE when asked for an amount. Eg 100 = 500.-- Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance as-- sertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make any of- them fail. You can run add with -I/--ignore-assertions to disable balance- assertion checking.-- add and balance assignments- Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing = BALANCE- (or ==, =* etc) when asked for an amount. The missing amount will be cal-- culated automatically.-- add normally won't let you add a new posting which is dated earlier than an- existing balance assignment. (Because when add runs, existing balance as-- signments have already been calculated and converted to amounts and balance- assertions.) You can allow it by disabling balance assertion checking with- -I.-- import- Import new transactions from one or more data files to the main journal.-- Flags:- --catchup just mark all transactions as already imported- --dry-run just show the transactions to be imported-- This command detects new transactions in one or more data files specified- as arguments, and appends them to the main journal.-- You can import from any input file format hledger supports, but CSV/SSV/TSV- files, downloaded from financial institutions, are the most common import- source.-- The import destination is the default journal file, or another specified in- the usual way with $LEDGER_FILE or -f/--file. It should be in journal for-- mat.-- Examples:-- $ hledger import bank1-checking.csv bank1-savings.csv-- $ hledger import *.csv-- Import dry run- It's useful to preview the import by running first with --dry-run, to san-- ity check the range of dates being imported, and to check the effect of- your conversion rules if converting from CSV. Eg:-- $ hledger import bank.csv --dry-run-- The dry run output is valid journal format, so hledger can re-parse it. If- the output is large, you could show just the uncategorised transactions- like so:-- $ hledger import --dry-run bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown-- You could also run this repeatedly to see the effect of edits to your con-- version rules:-- $ watchexec -- "hledger import --dry-run bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown"-- Once the conversion and dates look good enough to import to your journal,- perhaps with some manual fixups to follow, you would do the actual import:-- $ hledger import bank.csv-- Overlap detection- Reading CSV files is built in to hledger, and not specific to import; so- you could also import by doing hledger -f bank.csv print >>$LEDGER_FILE.-- But import is easier and provides some advantages. The main one is that it- avoids re-importing transactions it has seen on previous runs. This means- you don't have to worry about overlapping data in successive downloads of- your bank CSV; just download and import as often as you like, and only the- new transactions will be imported each time.-- We don't call this "deduplication", as it's generally not possible to reli-- ably detect duplicates in bank CSV. Instead, import remembers the latest- date processed previously in each CSV file (saving it in a hidden file),- and skips any records prior to that date. This works well for most- real-world CSV, where:-- 1. the data file name is stable (does not change) across imports-- 2. the item dates are stable across imports-- 3. the order of same-date items is stable across imports-- 4. the newest items have the newest dates-- (Occasional violations of 2-4 are often harmless; you can reduce the chance- of disruption by downloading and importing more often.)-- Overlap detection is automatic, and shouldn't require much attention from- you, except perhaps at first import (see below). But here's how it works:-- * For each FILE being imported from:-- 1. hledger reads a file named .latest.FILE file in the same directory, if- any. This file contains the latest record date previously imported- from FILE, in YYYY-MM-DD format. If multiple records with that date- were imported, the date is repeated on N lines.-- 2. hledger reads records from FILE. If a latest date was found in step- 1, any records before that date, and the first N records on that date,- are skipped.-- * After a successful import from all FILEs, without error and without- --dry-run, hledger updates each FILE's .latest.FILE for next time.-- If this goes wrong, it's relatively easy to repair:-- * You'll notice it before import when you preview with import --dry-run.-- * Or after import when you try to reconcile your hledger account balances- with your bank.-- * hledger print -f FILE.csv will show all recently downloaded transactions.- Compare these with your journal. Copy/paste if needed.-- * Update your conversion rules and print again, if needed.-- * You can manually update or remove the .latest file, or use import- --catchup FILE.-- * Download and import more often, eg twice a week, at least while you are- learning. It's easier to review and troubleshoot when there are fewer- transactions.-- First import- The first time you import from a file, when no corresponding .latest file- has been created yet, all of the records will be imported.-- But perhaps you have been entering the data manually, so you know that all- of these transactions are already recorded in the journal. In this case- you can run hledger import --catchup once. This will create a .latest file- containing the latest CSV record date, so that none of those records will- be re-imported.-- Or, if you know that some but not all of the transactions are in the jour-- nal, you can create the .latest file yourself. Eg, let's say you previ-- ously recorded foobank transactions up to 2024-10-31 in the journal. Then- in the directory where you'll be saving foobank.csv, you would create a- .latest.foobank.csv file containing-- 2024-10-31-- Or if you had three foobank transactions recorded with that date, you would- repeat the date that many times:-- 2024-10-31- 2024-10-31- 2024-10-31-- Then hledger import foobank.csv [--dry-run] will import only the newer- records.-- Importing balance assignments- Journal entries added by import will have all posting amounts made explicit- (like print -x).-- This means that any balance assignments in the imported entries would need- to be evaluated. But this generally isn't possible, as the main file's ac-- count balances are not visible during import. So try to avoid generating- balance assignments with your CSV rules, or importing from a journal that- contains balance assignments. (Balance assignments are best avoided any-- way.)-- But if you must use them, eg because your CSV includes only balances: you- can import with print, which leaves implicit amounts implicit. (print can- also do overlap detection like import, with the --new flag):-- $ hledger print --new -f bank.csv >> $LEDGER_FILE-- (If you think import should preserve implicit balances, please test that- and send a pull request.)-- Import and commodity styles- Amounts in entries added by import will be formatted according to the jour-- nal's canonical commodity styles, as declared by commodity directives or- inferred from the journal's amounts.-- Related: CSV > Amount decimal places.-- Import archiving- When importing from a CSV rules file (hledger import bank.rules), you can- use the archive rule to enable automatic archiving of the data file. After- a successful import, the data file (specified by source) will be moved to- an archive folder (data/, next to the rules file, auto-created), and re-- named similar to the rules file, with a date. This can be useful for trou-- bleshooting, detecting variations in your banks' CSV data, regenerating en-- tries with improved rules, etc.-- The archive rule also causes import to handle source glob patterns differ-- ently: when there are multiple matched files, it will pick the oldest, not- the newest.-- Import special cases- Deduplication- Here are two kinds of "deduplication" which import does not handle (and- should not, because these can happen legitimately in financial data):-- * Two or more of the new CSV records are identical, and generate identical- new journal entries.-- * A new CSV record generates a journal entry identical to one(s) already in- the journal.-- Varying file name- If you have a download whose file name varies, you could rename it to a- fixed name after each download. Or you could use a CSV source rule with a- suitable glob pattern, and import from the .rules file.-- Multiple versions- Say you download bank.csv, import it, but forget to delete it from your- downloads folder. The next time you download it, your web browser will- save it as (eg) bank (2).csv. The source rule's glob patterns are for just- this situation: instead of specifying source bank.csv, specify source- bank*.csv. Then hledger -f bank.rules CMD or hledger import bank.rules- will automatically pick the newest matched file (bank (2).csv).-- Alternately, what if you download, but forget to import or delete, then- download again ? Now each of bank.csv and bank (2).csv might contain data- that's not in the other, and not in your journal. In this case, it's best- to import each of them in turn, oldest first (otherwise, overlap detection- could cause new records to be skipped). Enabling import archiving ensures- this. Then hledger import bank.rules; hledger import bank.rules will im-- port and archive first bank.csv, then bank (2).csv.--Basic report commands- accounts- List the account names used or declared in the journal.-- Flags:- -u --used list accounts used- -d --declared list accounts declared- --undeclared list accounts used but not declared- --unused list accounts declared but not used- --find list the first account matched by the first- argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)- --directives show as account directives, for use in journals- --locations also show where accounts were declared- --types also show account types when known- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default)- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree- --drop=N flat mode: omit N leading account name parts-- This command lists account names - all of them by default, or just the ones- which have been used in transactions (-u/--used), or declared with account- directives (-d/--declared), or used but not declared (--undeclared), or de-- clared but not used (--unused), or just the first one matched by a pattern- (--find, returning a non-zero exit code if it fails).-- You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or accounts.-- With --directives, it shows valid account directives which could be pasted- into a journal file. This is useful together with --undeclared when updat-- ing your account declarations to satisfy hledger check accounts.-- With --locations, it also shows the file and line number of each account's- declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration order; these may- be useful when troubleshooting account display order.-- With --types, it also shows each account's type, if it's known. (See De-- claring accounts > Account types.)-- 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-- $ hledger accounts --undeclared --directives >> $LEDGER_FILE- $ hledger check accounts-- codes- List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- This command prints the value of each transaction's code field, in the or-- der 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:-- 2022/1/1 (123) Supermarket- Food $5.00- Checking-- 2022/1/2 (124) Post Office- Postage $8.32- Checking-- 2022/1/3 Supermarket- Food $11.23- Checking-- 2022/1/4 (126) Post Office- Postage $3.21- Checking-- $ hledger codes- 123- 124- 126-- $ hledger codes -E- 123- 124-- 126-- commodities- List the commodity symbols used or declared in the journal.-- Flags:- --used list commodities used- --declared list commodities declared- --undeclared list commodities used but not declared- --unused list commodities declared but not used- --find list the first commodity matched by the first- argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)-- This command lists commodity symbols/names - all of them by default, or- just the ones which have been used in transactions or P directives, or de-- clared with commodity directives, or used but not declared, or declared but- not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, return-- ing a non-zero exit code if it fails).-- You can add cur: query arguments to further limit the commodities.-- descriptions- List the unique descriptions used in transactions.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- 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-- files- List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only file- names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- notes- List the unique notes that appear in transactions.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in alpha-- betic 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-- payees- List the payee/payer names used or declared in the journal.-- Flags:- --used list payees used- --declared list payees declared- --undeclared list payees used but not declared- --unused list payees declared but not used- --find list the first payee matched by the first- argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)-- This command lists unique payee/payer names - all of them by default, or- just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or declared- with payee directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not used,- or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, returning a- non-zero exit code if it fails).-- The payee/payer name 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 or payees.-- Example:-- $ hledger payees- Store Name- Gas Station- Person A-- prices- Print the market prices declared with P directives. With --infer-mar-- ket-prices, also show any additional prices inferred from costs. With- --show-reverse, also show additional prices inferred by reversing known- prices.-- Flags:- --show-reverse also show the prices inferred by reversing known- prices-- Price amounts are always displayed with their full precision, except for- reverse prices which are limited to 8 decimal digits.-- Prices can be filtered by a date:, cur: or amt: query.-- Generally if you run this command with --infer-market-prices --show-re-- verse, it will show the same prices used internally to calculate value re-- ports. But if in doubt, you can inspect those directly by running the- value report with --debug=2.-- stats- Show journal and performance statistics.-- Flags:- -1 show a single line of output- -v --verbose show more detailed output- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE.-- The stats command shows summary information for the whole journal, or a- matched part of it. With a reporting interval, it shows a report for each- report period.-- It also shows some performance statistics:-- * how long the program ran for-- * the number of transactions processed per second-- * the peak live memory in use by the program to do its work-- * the peak allocated memory as seen by the program-- By default, the output is reasonably discreet; it reveals the main file- name, your activity level, and the speed of your machine.-- With -v/--verbose, more details are shown: the full paths of all files, and- the names of the commodities you work with.-- With -1, only one line of output is shown, in a machine-friendly tab-sepa-- rated format: the program version, the main journal file name, and the per-- formance stats,-- The run time of stats is similar to that of a balance report.-- Example:-- $ hledger stats -f examples/1ktxns-1kaccts.journal- Main file : .../1ktxns-1kaccts.journal- Included files : 0- Txns span : 2000-01-01 to 2002-09-27 (1000 days)- Last txn : 2002-09-26 (7827 days ago)- Txns : 1000 (1.0 per day)- Txns last 30 days : 0 (0.0 per day)- Txns last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)- Payees/descriptions : 1000- Accounts : 1000 (depth 10)- Commodities : 26- Market prices : 1000- Runtime stats : 0.12 s elapsed, 8266 txns/s, 4 MB live, 16 MB alloc-- $ hledger stats -1 -f examples/10ktxns-1kaccts.journal- 1.50.99-g0835a2485-20251119, mac-aarch64 10ktxns-1kaccts.journal 0.66 s elapsed 15244 txns/s 28 MB live 86 MB alloc-- This command supports the -o/--output-file option (but not -O/--output-for-- mat).-- tags- List the tag names used or declared in the journal, or their values.-- Flags:- --used list tags used- --declared list tags declared- --undeclared list tags used but not declared- --unused list tags declared but not used- --find list the first tag whose name is matched by the- first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)- --values list tag values instead of tag names- --parsed show them in the order they were parsed (mostly),- including duplicates-- This command lists tag names - all of them by default, or just the ones- which have been used on transactions/postings/accounts, or declared with- tag directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not used, or just- the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, returning a non-zero exit- code if it fails).-- Note this command's non-standard first argument: it is a case-insensitive- infix regular expression for matching tag names, which limits the tags- shown. Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which limit- the transactions, postings, or accounts providing tags.-- With --values, the tags' unique non-empty values are listed instead.-- With -E/--empty, blank/empty values are also shown.-- With --parsed, tags or values are shown in the order they were parsed, with- duplicates included. (Except, tags from account declarations are always- shown first.)-- Remember that accounts also acquire tags from their parents; postings also- acquire tags from their account and transaction; and transactions also ac-- quire tags from their postings.--Standard report commands- print- Show full journal entries, representing transactions.-- Flags:- -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly- --invert display all amounts with reversed sign- --locations add tags showing file paths and line numbers- -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent transaction with- description closest to DESC- --new show only newer-dated transactions added in each- file since last run- --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when- displaying amounts ?- none - show original decimal digits,- as in journal (default)- soft - just add or remove decimal zeros- to match precision- hard - round posting amounts to precision- (can unbalance transactions)- all - also round cost amounts to precision- (can unbalance transactions)- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,- with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by- hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, beancount, csv, tsv, html, fods, json, sql.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the- journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date).-- Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently. This- means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it to re-- format/regenerate your journal you should take care to also copy over the- directives and inter-transaction comments.-- Eg:-- $ hledger print -f examples/sample.journal date:200806- 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-- print amount explicitness- Normally, whether posting amounts are implicit or explicit is preserved.- For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not appear- in the output. Similarly, if a conversion cost is implied but not written,- it will not appear in the output.-- You can use the -x/--explicit flag to force explicit display of all amounts- and costs. This can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your jour-- nal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also implied- by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value.-- The -x/--explicit flag will cause any postings with a multi-commodity- amount (which can arise when a multi-commodity transaction has an implicit- amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping the- output parseable.-- print alignment- Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not aligned- across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger-mode in Emacs).-- print amount style- Amounts will be displayed mostly in their commodity's display style, with- standardised symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks. This- does not apply to their decimal digits; print normally shows the same deci-- mal digits that are recorded in each journal entry.-- You can override the decimal precisions with print's special --round option- (since 1.32). --round tries to show amounts with their commodities' stan-- dard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly:-- * --round=none show amounts with original precisions (default)-- * --round=soft add/remove decimal zeros in amounts (except costs)-- * --round=hard round amounts (except costs), possibly hiding significant- digits-- * --round=all round all amounts and costs-- soft is good for non-lossy cleanup, displaying more consistent decimals- where possible, without making entries unbalanced.-- hard or all can be good for stronger cleanup, when decimal rounding is- wanted. Note rounding can produce unbalanced journal entries, perhaps re-- quiring manual fixup.-- print parseability- Normally, print's output is a valid hledger journal, which you can "pipe"- to a second hledger command for further processing. This is sometimes con-- venient for achieving certain kinds of query (though less needed now that- queries have become more powerful):-- # 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-- But here are some things which can cause print's output to become un-- parseable:-- * --round (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing.-- * Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance asser-- tions, or balance assignments.-- * Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance assign-- ments.-- * Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings.-- * --infer-costs or --infer-equity can generate too-complex redundant costs.-- * Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance assertions- involving non-date-ordered transactions (and same-day postings) could be- disrupted.-- print, other features- With -B/--cost, amounts with costs are shown converted to cost.-- With --invert, posting amounts are shown with their sign flipped. It could- be useful if you have accidentally recorded some transactions with the- wrong signs.-- With --new, print shows 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.)-- With -m DESC/--match=DESC, print shows one recent transaction whose de-- scription is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two char-- acters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown- and the program exit code will be non-zero.-- With --locations, print adds the source file and line number to every- transaction, as a tag.-- print output format- This command also supports the output destination and output format options- The output formats supported are txt, beancount (Added in 1.32), csv, tsv- (Added in 1.32), json and sql.-- The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible output, as fol-- lows:-- * Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to cleared- (*) status.-- * Transactions' payee and note are backslash-escaped and double-quote-es-- caped and wrapped in double quotes.-- * Transaction tags are copied to Beancount #tag format.-- * Commodity symbols are converted to upper case, and a small number of cur-- rency symbols like $ are converted to the corresponding currency names.-- * Account name parts are capitalised and unsupported characters are re-- placed with -. If an account name part does not begin with a letter, or- if the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, or Ex-- penses, an error is raised. (Use --alias options to bring your accounts- into compliance.)-- * An open directive is generated for each account used, on the earliest- transaction date.-- Some limitations:-- * Balance assertions are removed.-- * Balance assignments become missing amounts.-- * Virtual and balanced virtual postings become regular postings.-- * Directives are not converted.-- 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 re-- ordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a different order,- etc.)-- * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" (nu-- meric 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.)-- aregister- (areg)-- Show the transactions and running balances in one account, with each trans-- action on one line.-- Flags:- --txn-dates filter strictly by transaction date, not posting- date. Warning: this can show a wrong running- balance.- --no-elide don't show only 2 commodities per amount- --cumulative accumulation mode: show running total from report- start date- -H --historical accumulation mode: show historical running- total/balance (includes postings before report- start date) (default)- --invert display all amounts with reversed sign- --drop=N omit N leading account name parts- --heading=YN show heading row above table: yes (default) or no- -w --width=N set output width (default: terminal width). -wN,M- sets description width as well.- --align-all guarantee alignment across all lines (slower)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- 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 included in the- running balance (--historical mode is the default). You can suppress this- behaviour using the --cumulative option.-- This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command- (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not nec-- essarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb:-- * aregister is best when reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts-- * register is best when reviewing individual revenues/expenses.-- Note this command's non-standard, and required, first argument; it speci-- fies the account whose register will be shown. You can write the account's- name, or (to save typing) a case-insensitive infix regular expression- matching the name, which selects the alphabetically first matched account.- (For example, if you have assets:personal checking and assets:business- checking, hledger areg checking would select assets:business checking.)-- Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown.- aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a his-- torical balance report with similar arguments.-- Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which will limit 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 dur-- ing 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 (prob-- ably 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.-- For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first 1000- lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause visual- discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to ensure per-- fect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all- flag.-- By default, aregister shows a heading above the data. However, when re-- porting in a language different from English, it is easier to omit this- heading and prepend your own one. For this purpose, use the --heading=no- option.-- This command also supports the output destination and output format op-- tions. The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32),- html, fods (Added in 1.41) and json.-- aregister and posting dates- aregister always shows one line (and date and amount) per transaction. But- sometimes transactions have postings with different dates. Also, not all- of a transaction's postings may be within the report period. To resolve- this, aregister shows the earliest of the transaction's date and posting- dates that is in-period, and the sum of the in-period postings. In other- words it will show a combined line item with just the earliest date, and- the running balance will (temporarily, until the transaction's last post-- ing) be inaccurate. Use register -H if you need to see the individual- postings.-- There is also a --txn-dates flag, which filters strictly by transaction- date, ignoring posting dates. This too can cause an inaccurate running- balance.-- register- (reg)-- Show postings and their running total.-- Flags:- --cumulative accumulation mode: show running total from report- start date (default)- -H --historical accumulation mode: show historical running- total/balance (includes postings before report- start date)- -A --average show running average of posting amounts instead- of total (implies --empty)- -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent posting with- description closest to DESC- -r --related show postings' siblings instead- --invert display all amounts with reversed sign- --drop=N omit N leading account name parts- --sort=FIELDS sort by: date, desc, account, amount, absamount,- or a comma-separated combination of these. For a- descending sort, prefix with -. (Default: date)- -w --width=N set output width (default: terminal width). -wN,M- sets description width as well.- --align-all guarantee alignment across all lines (slower)- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,- with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by- hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, csv, tsv, html, fods, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- 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.-- For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first 1000- lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause visual- discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to ensure per-- fect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all- flag.-- The --historical/-H flag adds the balance from any undisplayed prior post-- ings 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 --drop option will trim leading segments from account names.-- 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 af-- fected 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:-- The --sort=FIELDS flag sorts by the fields given, which can be any of ac-- count, amount, absamount, date, or desc/description, optionally separated- by commas. For example, --sort account,amount will group all transactions- in each account, sorted by transaction amount. Each field can be negated- by a preceding -, so --sort -amount will show transactions ordered from- smallest amount to largest amount.-- $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking-- With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per inter-- val, 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 1- 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 compara-- ble to the others in the report.-- If you have a deeply nested account tree some reports might benefit from- trimming leading segments from the account names using --drop.-- $ hledger register --monthly income --drop 1- 2008/01 salary $-1 $-1- 2008/06 gifts $-1 $-2-- With -m DESC/--match=DESC, register does a fuzzy search for one recent- posting whose description is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at- least two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no posting will- be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero.-- Custom register output- register normally uses the full terminal width (or 80 columns if it can't- detect that). You can override this with 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- $ hledger reg -w 100,40 # set overall width 100, description width 40-- This command also supports the output destination and output format options- The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), and json.-- balancesheet- (bs)-- Show the end balances in asset and liability accounts. Amounts are shown- with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements.-- Flags:- --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- (default)- --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of- period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,- withdrawals, market price fluctuations)- --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital- gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost- basis)- --count calculation mode: show the count of postings- --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column- start to column end (in multicolumn reports)- --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report- start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end- -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from- journal start to column end (includes postings- before report start date) (default)- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,- except where the account is depth-clipped.- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts- include subaccount amounts.- --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts- --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used- with -E)- -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn- reports)- -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)- --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,- average) (in multicolumn reports)- -N --no-total omit the final total row- --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts- --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)- -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name- -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's- total- --layout=ARG 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- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to- hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base- url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending balances- of asset and liability accounts. (To see equity as well, use the bal-- ancesheetequity command.)-- Accounts declared with the Asset, Cash or Liability type are shown (see ac-- count types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level ac-- counts named asset or liability (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and- their subaccounts.-- Example:-- $ hledger balancesheet- Balance Sheet 2008-12-31-- || 2008-12-31- ====================++============- Assets ||- --------------------++------------- assets:bank:saving || $1- assets:cash || $-2- --------------------++------------- || $-1- ====================++============- Liabilities ||- --------------------++------------- liabilities:debts || $-1- --------------------++------------- || $-1- ====================++============- Net: || 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 simi-- lar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with smarter account de-- tection, 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and- json.-- 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.-- Flags:- --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- (default)- --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of- period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,- withdrawals, market price fluctuations)- --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital- gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost- basis)- --count calculation mode: show the count of postings- --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column- start to column end (in multicolumn reports)- --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report- start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end- -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from- journal start to column end (includes postings- before report start date) (default)- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,- except where the account is depth-clipped.- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts- include subaccount amounts.- --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts- --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used- with -E)- -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn- reports)- -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)- --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,- average) (in multicolumn reports)- -N --no-total omit the final total row- --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts- --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)- -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name- -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's- total- --layout=ARG 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- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to- hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base- url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- This report shows accounts declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Eq-- uity type (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it- shows top-level accounts named asset, liability or equity (case insensi-- tive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts.-- Example:-- $ hledger balancesheetequity- Balance Sheet With Equity 2008-12-31-- || 2008-12-31- ====================++============- Assets ||- --------------------++------------- assets:bank:saving || $1- assets:cash || $-2- --------------------++------------- || $-1- ====================++============- Liabilities ||- --------------------++------------- liabilities:debts || $-1- --------------------++------------- || $-1- ====================++============- Equity ||- --------------------++------------- --------------------++------------- || 0- ====================++============- Net: || 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 simi-- lar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with smarter ac-- count detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their sign flipped.-- This report is the easiest way to see if the accounting equation (A+L+E =- 0) is satisfied (after you have done a close --retain to merge revenues and- expenses with equity, and perhaps added --infer-equity to balance your com-- modity conversions).-- This command also supports the output destination and output format options- The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json.-- cashflow- (cf)-- This command displays a (simple) cashflow statement, showing the inflows- and outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid, easily convertible) assets.- Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial- statements.-- Flags:- --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- (default)- --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of- period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,- withdrawals, market price fluctuations)- --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital- gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost- basis)- --count calculation mode: show the count of postings- --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column- start to column end (in multicolumn reports)- (default)- --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report- start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end- -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from- journal start to column end (includes postings- before report start date)- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,- except where the account is depth-clipped.- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts- include subaccount amounts.- --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts- --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used- with -E)- -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn- reports)- -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)- --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,- average) (in multicolumn reports)- -N --no-total omit the final total row- --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts- --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)- -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name- -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's- total- --layout=ARG 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- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to- hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base- url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- This report shows accounts declared with the Cash type (see account types).- Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows accounts-- * under a top-level account named asset (case insensitive, plural allowed)-- * whose name contains some variation of cash, bank, checking or saving.-- More precisely: all accounts matching this case insensitive regular expres-- sion:-- ^assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|currentcash)(:|$)-- and their subaccounts.-- An example cashflow report:-- $ hledger cashflow- Cashflow Statement 2008-- || 2008- ====================++======- Cash flows ||- --------------------++------- assets:bank:saving || $1- assets:cash || $-2- --------------------++------- || $-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 simi-- lar 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and- json.-- incomestatement- (is)-- Show revenue inflows and expense outflows during the report period.- Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial- statements.-- Flags:- --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- (default)- --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of- period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,- withdrawals, market price fluctuations)- --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital- gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost- basis)- --count calculation mode: show the count of postings- --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column- start to column end (in multicolumn reports)- (default)- --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report- start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end- -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from- journal start to column end (includes postings- before report start date)- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,- except where the account is depth-clipped.- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts- include subaccount amounts.- --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts- --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used- with -E)- -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn- reports)- -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)- --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,- average) (in multicolumn reports)- -N --no-total omit the final total row- --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts- --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)- -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name- -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's- total- --layout=ARG 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- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to- hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base- url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and expenses- during one or more periods.-- It shows accounts declared with the Revenue or Expense type (see account- types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts- named revenue or income or expense (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and- their subaccounts.-- Example:-- $ hledger incomestatement- Income Statement 2008-- || 2008- ===================++======- Revenues ||- -------------------++------- income:gifts || $1- income:salary || $1- -------------------++------- || $2- ===================++======- Expenses ||- -------------------++------- expenses:food || $1- expenses:supplies || $1- -------------------++------- || $2- ===================++======- Net: || 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 simi-- lar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with smarter ac-- count 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and- json.--Advanced report commands- balance- (bal)-- A flexible, general purpose "summing" report that shows accounts with some- kind of numeric data. This can be balance changes per period, end bal-- ances, budget performance, unrealised capital gains, etc.-- Flags:- --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- (default)- --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of- period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,- withdrawals, market price fluctuations)- --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital- gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost- basis)- --budget[=DESCPAT] calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts- together with budget goals defined by periodic- transactions. With a DESCPAT argument (must be- separated by = not space),- use only periodic transactions with matching- description- (case insensitive substring match).- --count calculation mode: show the count of postings- --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column- start to column end (in multicolumn reports,- default)- --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report- start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end- -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from- journal start to column end (includes postings- before report start date)- -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list- (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,- except where the account is depth-clipped.- -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts- include subaccount amounts.- --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts- --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used- with -E)- -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn- reports)- -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)- --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,- average) (in multicolumn reports)- -N --no-total omit the final total row- --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts- --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)- -S --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.- -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's- total- -r --related show the other accounts transacted with, instead- --invert display all amounts with reversed sign- --transpose switch rows and columns (use vertical time axis)- --layout=ARG how to lay out multi-commodity amounts and the- overall table:- 'wide[,W]': commodities on same line, up to W wide- 'tall' : commodities on separate lines- 'bare' : commodity symbols in a separate column- 'tidy' : each data field in its own column- --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,- with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by- hledger-web; can also be relative.)- -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:- txt, html, csv, tsv, json, fods.- -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching- one of the above formats selects that format.-- 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 represent-- ing accounts, and columns representing periods.-- Note there are some variants of the balance command with convenient de-- faults, which are simpler to use: balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash-- flow and incomestatement. When you need more control, 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 other bal-- ance-like commands as well (bs, cf, is..).-- 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)-- * or balance changes from sibling postings (--related/-r)-- * or postings count (--count)-- ..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, tsv (Added in 1.32), json, and (multi-period- reports only:) html, fods (Added in 1.40). In txt output in a colour-sup-- porting 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 - dur-- ing the entire period of the journal. ("Simple" here means just one column- of numbers, covering a single period. You can also have multi-period re-- ports, described later.)-- For real-world accounts, these numbers will normally be 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.-- Balance report line format- 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 specifies the formatting applied to each account/bal-- ance 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 char-- acters 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 sin-- gle-column balance report-- 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:-- * "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 re-- quires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextaccount-- ing-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 sep-- arately.-- Depth limiting- With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) bal-- ance 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-- Showing declared accounts- With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account direc-- tive will be included in the balance report, even if they have no transac-- tions. (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 in-- cluded, 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.-- 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 sub-- sequent 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 you could use one of the higher-level balance reports- (bs, is..), which flip the sign automatically (eg: hledger is -MAS).-- Percentages- With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed as a- percentage of the (column) total.-- 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:a-- 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 en-- compass 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.-- * 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.-- * The --summary-only flag (--summary also works) hides all but the Total- and Average columns (those should be enabled with --row-total and- -A/--average).-- 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-- * Filter to a single currency with cur:-- * Convert to a single currency with -V [--infer-market-price]-- * Use a more compact layout like --layout=bare-- * 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-- 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 time-- zone). 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 rev-- enues 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" transac-- tion (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.)-- Balance report modes- The balance command is quite flexible; here is the full detail on how to- control what it reports. If the following seems complicated, don't worry -- this is for advanced reporting, and it does take time and experimentation- to get familiar with all the report modes.-- There are three important option groups:-- hledger balance [CALCULATIONMODE] [ACCUMULATIONMODE] [VALUATIONMODE] ...-- Calculation mode- The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of:-- * --sum : sum the posting amounts (default)-- * --budget : sum the amounts, but also show the budget goal amount (for- each account/period)-- * --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 bal-- ance minus each amount's original cost)-- * --count : show the count of postings-- Accumulation mode- How amounts should accumulate across a report's subperiods/columns. An-- other way to say it: which time period's postings should contribute to each- cell's calculation. It is one of:-- * --change : calculate with postings from column start to column end, ie- "just this column". Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default- for balance, cashflow, incomestatement)-- * --cumulative : calculate with postings from report start to column end,- ie "previous columns plus this column". Typically used to show changes- accumulated since the report's start date. Not often used.-- * --historical/-H : calculate with postings from journal start to column- end, ie "all postings from before report start date until this column's- end". Typically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili-- ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity)-- Valuation mode- Which kind of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, before- displaying the report. See Cost reporting and Value reporting for more- about conversions.-- A valuation (or cost) mode can be selected with the --value option:-- * no conversion : don't convert to cost or value (default)-- * --value=cost[,COMM] : convert amounts to cost (then optionally to some- other commodity)-- * --value=then[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on transaction- dates-- * --value=end[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on period end- date(s)- (default with --valuechange, --gain)-- * --value=now[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on today's date-- * --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on another- date-- or with the legacy -B/-V/-X options, which are equivalent and easier to- type:-- * -B/--cost : like --value=cost-- * -V/--market : like --value=end-- * -X COMM/--exchange COMM : like --value=end,COMM-- Note that --value can also convert to cost, as a convenience; but actually- --cost and --value are independent options, and could be used together.-- Combining balance report modes- Most combinations of these modes should produce reasonable reports, but if- you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The following re-- strictions are applied:-- * --valuechange implies --value=end-- * --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal-- ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands-- * --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T-- For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valuation- show:-- Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value=- tion:> YYYY-MM-DD- Accumu- /now- lation:v- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --change change in period sum of post- period-end DATE-value of- ing-date market value of change change in pe-- values in period in period riod- --cumu- change from re- sum of post- period-end DATE-value of- lative port start to ing-date market value of change change from- period end values from re- from report report start- port start to pe- start to period to period end- riod end end- --his- change from sum of post- period-end DATE-value of- torical journal start to ing-date market value of change change from- /-H period end (his- values from jour- from journal journal start- torical end bal- nal start to pe- start to period to period end- ance) riod end end-- Budget report- The --budget report is like a regular balance report, but with two main- differences:-- * Budget goals and performance percentages are also shown, in brackets-- * Accounts which don't have budget goals are hidden by default.-- This is useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time us-- age, etc.-- Periodic transaction rules are used to define budget goals. For example,- here's a periodic rule defining monthly goals for bus travel and food ex-- penses:-- ;; Budget- ~ monthly- (expenses:bus) $30- (expenses:food) $400-- After recording some actual expenses,-- ;; Two months worth of expenses- 2017-11-01- income $-1950- expenses:bus $35- expenses:food:groceries $310- expenses:food:dining $42- expenses:movies $38- assets:bank:checking-- 2017-12-01- income $-2100- expenses:bus $53- expenses:food:groceries $380- expenses:food:dining $32- expenses:gifts $100- assets:bank:checking-- we can see a budget report like this:-- $ hledger bal -M --budget- Budget performance in 2017-11-01..2017-12-31:-- || Nov Dec- ===============++============================================- <unbudgeted> || $-425 $-565- expenses || $425 [ 99% of $430] $565 [131% of $430]- expenses:bus || $35 [117% of $30] $53 [177% of $30]- expenses:food || $352 [ 88% of $400] $412 [103% of $400]- ---------------++--------------------------------------------- || 0 [ 0% of $430] 0 [ 0% of $430]-- This is "goal-based budgeting"; you define goals for accounts and periods,- often recurring, and hledger shows performance relative to the goals. This- contrasts with "envelope budgeting", which is more detailed and strict -- useful when cash is tight, but also quite a bit more work. https://plain-- textaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on this topic.-- Using the budget report- Historically this report has been confusing and fragile. hledger's version- should be relatively robust and intuitive, but you may still find sur-- prises. Here are more notes to help with learning and troubleshooting.-- * In the above example, expenses:bus and expenses:food are shown because- they have budget goals during the report period.-- * Their parent expenses is also shown, with budget goals aggregated from- the children.-- * The subaccounts expenses:food:groceries and expenses:food:dining are not- shown since they have no budget goal of their own, but they contribute to- expenses:food's actual amount.-- * Unbudgeted accounts expenses:movies and expenses:gifts are also not- shown, but they contribute to expenses's actual amount.-- * The other unbudgeted accounts income and assets:bank:checking are grouped- as <unbudgeted>.-- * --depth or depth: can be used to limit report depth in the usual way (but- will not reveal unbudgeted subaccounts).-- * Amounts are always inclusive of subaccounts (even in -l/--list mode).-- * Numbers displayed in a --budget report will not always agree with the to-- tals, because of hidden unbudgeted accounts; this is normal. -E/--empty- can be used to reveal the hidden accounts.-- * In the periodic rules used for setting budget goals, unbalanced postings- are convenient.-- * You can filter budget reports with the usual queries, eg to focus on par-- ticular accounts. It's common to restrict them to just expenses. (The- <unbudgeted> account is occasionally hard to exclude; this is because of- date surprises, discussed below.)-- * When you have multiple currencies, you may want to convert them to one- (-X COMM --infer-market-prices) and/or show just one at a time- (cur:COMM). If you do need to show multiple currencies at once, --layout- bare can be helpful.-- * You can "roll over" amounts (actual and budgeted) to the next period with- --cumulative.-- See also: https://hledger.org/budgeting.html.-- Budget date surprises- With small data, or when starting out, some of the generated budget goal- transaction dates might fall outside the report periods. Eg with the fol-- lowing journal and report, the first period appears to have no ex-- penses:food budget. (Also the <unbudgeted> account should be excluded by- the expenses query, but isn't.):-- ~ monthly in 2020- (expenses:food) $500-- 2020-01-15- expenses:food $400- assets:checking-- $ hledger bal --budget expenses- Budget performance in 2020-01-15:-- || 2020-01-15- ===============++====================- <unbudgeted> || $400- expenses:food || 0 [ 0% of $500]- ---------------++--------------------- || $400 [80% of $500]-- In this case, the budget goal transactions are generated on first days of- of month (this can be seen with hledger print --forecast tag:generated ex-- penses). Whereas the report period defaults to just the 15th day of janu-- ary (this can be seen from the report table's column headings).-- To fix this kind of thing, be more explicit about the report period (and/or- the periodic rules' dates). In this case, adding -b 2020 does the trick.-- Selecting budget goals- 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 de-- scription contains DESCPAT, a case-insensitive substring (not a regular ex-- pression or query). This means you can give your periodic rules descrip-- tions (remember that two spaces are needed between period expression and- description), and then select from multiple budgets defined in your jour-- nal.-- Budgeting vs forecasting- --forecast and --budget both use the periodic transaction rules in the- journal to generate temporary transactions for reporting purposes. However- they are separate features - though you can use both at the same time if- you want. Here are some differences between them:-- --forecast --budget- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- is a general option; it enables fore- is a balance command option; it- casting with all reports selects the balance report's- budget mode- generates visible transactions which generates invisible transactions- appear in reports which produce goal amounts- generates forecast transactions from generates budget goal transac-- after the last regular transaction, to tions throughout the report pe-- the end of the report period; or with riod, optionally restricted by- an argument --forecast=PERIODEXPR gen- periods specified in the peri-- erates them throughout the specified odic transaction rules- period, both optionally restricted by- periods specified in the periodic- transaction rules- uses all periodic rules uses all periodic rules; or with- an argument --budget=DESCPAT- uses just the rules matched by- DESCPAT-- Balance report layout- The --layout option affects how balance and the other balance-like commands- show multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols. It can improve read-- ability, for humans and/or machines (other software). It has four possible- values:-- * --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: commodities are shown on a single line, optionally- elided to WIDTH-- * --layout=tall: each commodity is shown on a separate line-- * --layout=bare: commodity symbols are in their own column, amounts are- bare numbers-- * --layout=tidy: data is normalised to easily-consumed "tidy" form, with- one row per data value. (This one is currently supported only by the- balance command.)-- Here are the --layout modes supported by each output format Only CSV output- supports all of them:-- - txt csv html json sql- -------------------------------------- wide Y Y Y- tall Y Y Y- bare Y Y Y- tidy Y-- Examples:-- Wide layout- With many commodities, reports can be very wide:-- $ 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-- A width limit reduces the width, but some commodities will be hidden:-- $ 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..-- Tall layout- Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and ac-- count names are repeated:-- $ 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-- Bare layout- Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commodity has its own row,- amounts are bare numbers, account names are repeated:-- $ 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-- Bare layout also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data- that is easier to consume, eg for making charts:-- $ 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"-- Bare layout will sometimes display an extra row for the no-symbol commod-- ity, because of zero amounts (hledger treats zeroes as commodity-less, usu-- ally). This can break hledger-bar confusingly (workaround: add a cur:- query to exclude the no-symbol row).-- Tidy layout- This produces normalised "tidy data" (see- https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy-data.html)- where every variable has its own column and each row represents a single- data point. This is the easiest kind of data for other software to con-- sume:-- $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -Y -O csv --layout=tidy- "account","period","start_date","end_date","commodity","value"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","GLD","0"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","ITOT","10.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","USD","337.18"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","VEA","12.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","VHT","106.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","GLD","70.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","ITOT","18.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","USD","-98.12"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","VEA","10.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","VHT","18.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","GLD","0"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","ITOT","-11.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","USD","4881.44"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VEA","14.00"- "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VHT","170.00"-- Balance report output- As noted in Output format, if you choose HTML output (by using -O html or- -o somefile.html), you can create a hledger.css file in the same directory- to customise the report's appearance.-- The HTML and FODS output formats can generate hyperlinks to a hledger-web- register view for each account and period. E.g. if your hledger-web- server is reachable at http://localhost:5000 then you might run the balance- command with the extra option --base-url=http://localhost:5000. You can- also produce relative links, like --base-url="some/path" or --base-url="".)-- Some useful balance reports- Some frequently used balance options/reports are:-- * bal -M revenues expenses- Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomestate-- ment 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 cash-- flow 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 [--in-- vert]- Show top gainers [or losers] last week-- roi- Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on- your investments.-- Flags:- --cashflow show all amounts that were used to compute- returns- --investment=QUERY query to select your investment transactions- --profit-loss=QUERY --pnl query to select profit-and-loss or- appreciation/valuation transactions-- 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 iden-- tify 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 ac-- counts).-- This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return (IRR,- also known as money-weighted rate of return) and time-weighted rate of re-- turn (TWR) for your investments for the time period requested. IRR is al-- ways annualized due to the way it is computed, but TWR is reported both as- a rate over the chosen reporting period and as an annual rate.-- 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/invest-- ing/roi-unrealised.ledger-- * Cookbook > Return on Investment: https://hledger.org/roi.html-- 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.-- * "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-- 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 re-- turn") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows, and the time- between them. Investment at a particular fixed interest rate is going to- give you more interest than the same amount invested at the same interest- rate, but made later in time. 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, so your IRR will be smaller.- And if you are adding to your investment, you will receive bigger absolute- gains, which will be a bigger percentage of your initial investment, so- your IRR will be larger.-- As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you per-- sonally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the post-- ings 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 transac-- tions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized gains")- account or use price directives, then in order for IRR to compute the pre-- cise 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 dis-- counted 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 account for the- effect of your in-flows and out-flows, but unlike IRR it will try to com-- pute the true rate of return of the underlying asset, compensating for the- effect that deposits and withdrawas have on the apparent rate of growth of- your investment.-- 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, and- make TWR less sensitive than IRR to the effects of cash in-flows and- out-flows.-- References:-- * Explanation of rate of return-- * Explanation of IRR-- * Explanation of TWR-- * IRR vs TWR-- * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations of- both metrics--Chart commands- activity- Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- 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 **--Data generation commands- close- (equity)-- close prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening" transactions, use-- ful in various situations: migrating balances to a new journal file, re-- taining earnings into equity, consolidating balances, viewing lot costs..- Like print, it prints valid journal entries. You can copy these into your- journal file(s) when you are happy with how they look.-- Flags:- --clopen[=TAGVAL] show closing and opening balances transactions,- for AL accounts by default- --close[=TAGVAL] show just a closing balances transaction- --open[=TAGVAL] show just an opening balances transaction- --assert[=TAGVAL] show a balance assertions transaction- --assign[=TAGVAL] show a balance assignments transaction- --retain[=TAGVAL] show a retain earnings transaction, for RX- accounts by default- -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly- --show-costs show amounts with different costs separately- --interleaved show source and destination postings together- --assertion-type=TYPE =, ==, =* or ==*- --close-desc=DESC set closing transaction's description- --close-acct=ACCT set closing transaction's destination account- --open-desc=DESC set opening transaction's description- --open-acct=ACCT set opening transaction's source account- --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when- displaying amounts ?- none - show original decimal digits,- as in journal (default)- soft - just add or remove decimal zeros- to match precision- hard - round posting amounts to precision- (can unbalance transactions)- all - also round cost amounts to precision- (can unbalance transactions)-- close has six modes, selected by choosing one of the mode flags: --clopen,- --close (default), --open, --assert, --assign, or --retain. They are all- doing the same kind of operation, but with different defaults for different- situations.-- The journal entries generated by close will have a clopen: tag, which is- helpful when you want to exclude them from reports. If the main journal- file name contains a number, the tag's value will be that base file name- with the number incremented. Eg if the journal file is 2025.journal, the- tag will be clopen:2026. Or you can set the tag value by providing an ar-- gument to the mode flag. Eg --close=foo or --clopen=2025-main.-- close --clopen- This is useful if migrating balances to a new journal file at the start of- a new year. It prints a "closing balances" transaction that zeroes out ac-- count balances (Asset and Liability accounts, by default), and an opposite- "opening balances" transaction that restores them again. Typically, you- would run-- hledger close --clopen -e NEWYEAR >> $LEDGER_FILE-- and then move the opening transaction from the old file to the new file- (and probably also update your LEDGER_FILE environment variable).-- Why might you do this ? If your reports are fast, you may not need it.- But at some point you will probably want to partition your data by time,- for performance or data integrity or regulatory reasons. A new file or set- of files per year is common. Then, having each file/fileset "bookended"- with opening and closing balance transactions will allow you to freely pick- and choose which files to read - just the current year, any past year, any- sequence of years, or all of them - while showing correct account balances- in each case. The earliest opening balances transaction sets correct- starting balances, and any later closing/opening pairs will harmlessly can-- cel each other out.-- The balances will be transferred to and from equity:opening/closing bal-- ances by default. You can override this by using --close-acct and/or- --open-acct.-- You can select a different set of accounts to close/open by providing an- account query. Eg to add Equity accounts, provide arguments like assets- liabilities equity or type:ALE. When migrating to a new file, you'll usu-- ally want to bring along the AL or ALE accounts, but not the RX accounts- (Revenue, Expense).-- Assertions will be added indicating and checking the new balances of the- closed/opened accounts.-- close --close- This prints just the closing balances transaction of --clopen. It is the- default if you don't specify a mode.-- More customisation options are described below. Among other things, you- can use close --close to generate a transaction moving the balances from- any set of accounts, to a different account. (If you need to move just a- portion of the balance, see hledger-move.)-- close --open- This prints just the opening balances transaction of --clopen. (It is sim-- ilar to Ledger's equity command.)-- close --assert- This prints a transaction that asserts the account balances as they are on- the end date (and adds an assert: tag). It could be useful as documention- and to guard against changes.-- close --assign- This prints a transaction that assigns the account balances as they are on- the end date (and adds an "assign:" tag). Unlike balance assertions, as-- signments will post changes to balances as needed to reach the specified- amounts.-- This is another way to set starting balances when migrating to a new file,- and it will set them correctly even in the presence of earlier files which- do not have a closing balances transaction. However, it can hide errors,- and disturb the accounting equation, so --clopen is usually recommended.-- close --retain- This is like --close, but it closes Revenue and Expense account balances by- default. They will be transferred to equity:retained earnings, or another- account specified with --close-acct.-- Revenues and expenses correspond to changes in equity. They are cate-- gorised separately for reporting purposes, but traditionally at the end of- each accounting period, businesses consolidate them into equity, This is- called "retaining earnings", or "closing the books".-- In personal accounting, there's not much reason to do this, and most people- don't. (One reason to do it is to help the balancesheetequity report show- a zero total, demonstrating that the accounting equation (A-L=E) is satis-- fied.)-- close customisation- In all modes, the following things can be overridden:-- * the accounts to be closed/opened, with account query arguments-- * the closing/opening dates, with -e OPENDATE-- * the balancing account, with --close-acct=ACCT and/or --open-acct=ACCT-- * the transaction descriptions, with --close-desc=DESC and --open-desc=DESC-- * the transactions' clopen tag value, with a TAGVAL argument for the mode- flag (see above).-- By default, the closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date,- whichever is later; and the opening date is always one day after the clos-- ing date. You can change these by specifying a report end date; the clos-- ing date will be the last day of the report period. Eg -e 2024 means- "close on 2023-12-31, open on 2024-01-01".-- With --x/--explicit, the balancing amount will be shown explicitly, and if- it involves multiple commodities, a separate posting will be generated for- each of them (similar to print -x).-- With --interleaved, each individual transfer is shown with source and des-- tination postings next to each other (perhaps useful for troubleshooting).-- With --show-costs, balances' costs are also shown, with different costs- kept separate. This may generate very large journal entries, if you have- many currency conversions or investment transactions. close --show-costs- is currently the best way to view investment lots with hledger. (To move- or dispose of lots, see the more capable hledger-move script.)-- close and balance assertions- close adds balance assertions verifying that the accounts have been reset- to zero in a closing transaction or restored to their previous balances in- an opening transaction. These provide useful error checking, but you can- ignore them temporarily with -I, or remove them if you prefer.-- Single-commodity, subaccount-exclusive balance assertions (=) are generated- by default. This can be changed with --assertion-type='==*' (eg).-- When running close you should probably avoid using -C, -R, status: (filter-- ing by status or realness) or --auto (generating postings), since the gen-- erated balance assertions would then require these.-- Transactions with multiple dates (eg posting dates) spanning the file- boundary also can disrupt the balance assertions:-- 2023-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january- expenses:food 5- assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2023-01-02-- To solve this you can transfer the money to and from a temporary account,- splitting the multi-day transaction into two single-day transactions:-- ; in 2022.journal:- 2022-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january- expenses:food 5- equity:pending -5-- ; in 2023.journal:- 2023-01-02 last year's transaction cleared- equity:pending 5 = 0- assets:bank:checking -5-- close examples- Retain earnings- Record 2022's revenues/expenses as retained earnings on 2022-12-31, append-- ing the generated transaction to the journal:-- $ hledger close --retain -f 2022.journal -p 2022 >> 2022.journal-- After this, to see 2022's revenues and expenses you must exclude the retain- earnings transaction:-- $ hledger -f 2022.journal is not:desc:'retain earnings'-- Migrate balances to a new file- Close assets/liabilities on 2022-12-31 and re-open them on 2023-01-01:-- $ hledger close --clopen -f 2022.journal -p 2022- # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2022.journal- # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2023.journal-- After this, to see 2022's end-of-year balances you must exclude the closing- balances transaction:-- $ hledger -f 2022.journal bs not:desc:'closing balances'-- For more flexibility, it helps to tag closing and opening transactions with- eg clopen:NEWYEAR, then you can ensure correct balances by excluding all- opening/closing transactions except the first, like so:-- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j -f 2023.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j -f 2023.j expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'- $ hledger bs -Y -f 2023.j # unclosed file, no query needed-- More detailed close examples- See examples/multi-year.-- rewrite- Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions.- For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print- --auto.-- Flags:- --add-posting='ACCT AMTEXPR' add a posting to ACCT, which may be- parenthesised. AMTEXPR is either a literal- amount, or *N which means the transaction's- first matched amount multiplied by N (a- decimal number). Two spaces separate ACCT- and AMTEXPR.- --diff generate diff suitable as an input for- patch tool-- 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.-- 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 transac-- tions 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 jour-- nal is important. You can re-use result of previously added postings.-- 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 op-- tions 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:-- * 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.--Maintenance commands- check- Check for various kinds of errors in your data.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- hledger provides a number of built-in correctness checks to help validate- your data and prevent errors. Some are run automatically, some when you- enable --strict mode; or you can run any of them on demand by providing- them as arguments to the check command. check produces no output and a- zero exit code if all is well. Eg:-- hledger check # run basic checks- hledger check -s # run basic and strict checks- hledger check ordereddates payees # run basic checks and two others-- If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to run- these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal.-- Here are the checks currently available. They are generally checked in the- order they are shown here, and only the first failure will be reported.-- Basic checks- These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger com-- mands:-- * parseable - data files are in a supported format, with no syntax errors- and no invalid include directives. This ensures that all files exist and- are readable.-- * autobalanced - all transactions are balanced, after automatically infer-- ring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting amounts to- cost. This ensures that each transaction's journal entry is well formed.-- * assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. Balance- assertions are a strong defense against errors, catching many problems.- This check is on by default, but if it gets in your way, you can disable- it temporarily with -I/--ignore-assertions, or as a default by adding- that flag to your config file. (Then use -s/--strict or hledger check- assertions when you want to enable it).-- Strict checks- When the -s/--strict flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands will per-- form the following additional checks (and assertions, above). These pro-- vide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data clean and cor-- rect:-- * balanced - like autobalanced, but implicit conversions between commodi-- ties are not allowed; all conversion transactions must use cost notation- or equity postings. This prevents wrong conversions caused by typos.-- * commodities - all commodity symbols used must be declared. This guards- against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols.-- * accounts - all account names used must be declared. This prevents the- use of mis-spelled or outdated account names.-- Other checks- These are not wanted by everyone, but can be run using the check command:-- * tags - all tags used must be declared. This prevents mis-spelled tag- names. Note hledger fairly often finds unintended tags in comments.-- * payees - all payees used in transactions must be declared. This will- force you to declare any new payee name before using it. Most people- will probably find this a bit too strict.-- * ordereddates - within each file, transactions must be ordered by date.- This is a simple and effective error catcher. It's not included in- strict mode, but you can add it by running hledger check -s ordereddates.- If enabled, this check is performed before balance assertions.-- * recentassertions - all accounts with balance assertions must have one- that's within the 7 days before their latest posting. This will encour-- age adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability accounts,- which in turn should encourage you to reconcile regularly with those real- world balances - another strong defense against errors. (hledger close- --assert >>$LEDGER_FILE is a convenient way to add new balance asser-- tions. Later these become quite redundant, and you might choose to re-- move them to reduce clutter.)-- * uniqueleafnames - no two accounts may have the same last account name- part (eg the checking in assets:bank:checking). This ensures each ac-- count can be matched by a unique short name, easier to remember and to- type.-- Custom checks- You can build your own custom checks with add-on command scripts. See also- Cookbook > Scripting. Here are some examples from hledger/bin/:-- * hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / exist as file paths-- * hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are pass-- ing-- 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.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- More precisely: for each posting affecting this account in either file,- this command looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which- posts the same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description,- etc).-- Since it compares postings, not transactions, this also works when multiple- bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry.-- This command 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:-- setup- Check the status of the hledger installation.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- setup tests your hledger installation and prints a list of results, some-- times with helpful hints. This is a good first command to run after in-- stalling hledger. Also after upgrading, or when something's not working,- or just when you want a reminder of where things are.-- It makes one network request to detect the latest hledger release version.- It's ok if this fails or times out. It will use ANSI color by default, un-- less disabled by NO_COLOR or --color=n. It does not use a pager or a con-- fig file.-- It expects that the hledger version you are running is installed in your- PATH. If not, it will stop until you have done that (to keep things sim-- ple).-- Example:-- $ hledger setup- Checking your hledger setup..- Legend: good, neutral, unknown, warning-- hledger- * is a released version ? no hledger 1.42.99-gbca4b39c5-20250425, mac-aarch64- * is up to date ? yes 1.42.99 installed, latest is 1.42.1- * is a native binary for this machine ? yes aarch64- * is installed in PATH ? yes /Users/simon/.local/bin/hledger- * has a system text encoding configured ? yes UTF-8, data files should use this encoding- * has a user config file ? (optional) no- * current directory has a local config ? yes /Users/simon/src/hledger/hledger.conf- * the config file is readable ? yes /Users/simon/src/hledger/hledger.conf-- terminal- * the NO_COLOR variable is defined ? no- * --color is configured by config file ? no- * hledger will use color by default ? yes- * the PAGER variable is defined ? yes less- * --pager is configured by config file ? no- * hledger will use a pager when needed ? yes /opt/homebrew/bin/less- * the LESS variable is defined ? yes- * the HLEDGER_LESS variable is defined ? no- * adjusting LESS variable for color etc. ? yes- * --pretty is enabled by config file ? no tables will use ASCII characters- * bash shell completions are installed ? ?- * zsh shell completions are installed ? ?-- journal- * the LEDGER_FILE variable is defined ? yes /Users/simon/finance/2025/2025.journal- * a default journal file is readable ? yes /Users/simon/finance/2025/2025.journal- * it includes additional files ? yes 15- * all commodities are declared ? yes 10- * all accounts are declared ? yes 160- * all accounts have types ? no 14 untyped- * accounts of each type were detected ? yes ALERXCV- * commodities/accounts are checked ? no use -s to check commodities/accounts- * balance assertions are checked ? yes use -I to ignore assertions-- test- Run built-in unit tests.-- Flags:- no command-specific flags-- 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 san-- ity-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!-- Any arguments before a -- argument will be passed to the tasty test runner- as test-selecting -p patterns, and any arguments after -- will be passed to- tasty unchanged.-- Examples:-- $ hledger test # run all unit tests- $ hledger test balance # run tests with "balance" in their name- $ hledger test -- -h # show tasty's options--PART 5: COMMON TASKS- Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.-- Getting help- Here's how to list commands and view options and command docs:-- $ hledger # show available commands- $ hledger --help # show common options- $ hledger CMD --help # show CMD's options, common options and CMD's documentation-- You can also view your hledger version's manual in several formats by using- the help command. Eg:-- $ hledger help # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER (best available)- $ hledger help journal # show the journal topic in the hledger manual- $ hledger help --help # find out more about the help command-- To view manuals and introductory docs on the web, visit- https://hledger.org. Chat and mail list support and discussion archives- can be found at https://hledger.org/support.-- Constructing command lines- hledger has a flexible command line interface. We strive to keep it simple- and ergonomic, but if you run into one of the sharp edges described in OP-- TIONS, here are some tips that might help:-- * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put com-- mon options there too: hledger CMD OPTS ARGS)-- * you can run addon commands via hledger (hledger ui [ARGS]) or directly- (hledger-ui [ARGS])-- * enclose "problematic" arguments in single quotes-- * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metacharacters- from the shell-- * to see how a misbehaving command line 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 (see- below). 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 2023.journal- $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2023.journal" >> ~/.profile- $ source ~/.profile- $ hledger stats- Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal- Included files :- Transactions span : to (0 days)- Last transaction : none- Transactions : 0 (0.0 per day)- Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)- Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)- Payees/descriptions : 0- Accounts : 0 (depth 0)- Commodities : 0 ()- Market prices : 0 ()-- Setting LEDGER_FILE- Set LEDGER_FILE on unix- It depends on your shell, but running these commands in the terminal will- work for many people; adapt if needed:-- $ echo 'export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/main.journal' >> ~/.profile- $ source ~/.profile-- When correctly configured:-- * env | grep LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting-- * and so should hledger setup and hledger files.-- Set LEDGER_FILE on mac- In a terminal window, follow the unix procedure above.-- Also, this optional step may be helpful for GUI applications:-- 1. Add an entry to ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist like-- {- "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/main.journal"- }-- 2. Run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the machine), to com-- plete the change.-- When correctly configured for GUI applications:-- * apps started from the dock or a spotlight search, such as a GUI Emacs,- will be aware of the new LEDGER_FILE setting.-- Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows- It can be easier to create a default file at C:\Users\USER\.hledger.jour-- nal, and have it include your other files. See I'm on Windows, how do I- keep my files in AppData?-- Otherwise: using the gui is easiest:-- 1. In task bar, search for environment variables, and choose "Edit environ-- ment variables for your account".-- 2. Create or change a LEDGER_FILE setting in the User variables pane. A- typical value would be C:\Users\USER\finance\main.journal.-- 3. Click OK to complete the change.-- 4. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the- change.)-- Or at the command line, you can do it this way:-- 1. In a powershell window, run [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVari-- able("LEDGER_FILE", "C:\User\USER\finance\main.journal", [System.Envi-- ronmentVariableTarget]::User)-- 2. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the- change.)-- Warning, doing this from the Windows command line can be tricky; other- methods you may find online:-- * may not affect the current window-- * may not be persistent-- * may not work unless you are an administrator-- * may limit values to 1024 characters-- * may break dynamic references to other variables-- * may require a new-enough version of powershell-- * or may be intended for the older command window.-- * If you still have trouble, see eg Setting Windows PowerShell environment- variables or Adding path permanently to windows using powershell doesn't- appear to work.-- When correctly configured:-- * in a new powershell window, $env:LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting-- * and so should hledger setup and (once the file exists) hledger files.-- 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:-- 2023-01-01 * opening balances- assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000- assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000- assets:cash $100 = $100- liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50- equity:opening/closing balances-- 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 simi-- lar transaction:-- $ hledger add- Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal- Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.- Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.- An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.- An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.- If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.- To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.- To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.- Date [2023-02-07]: 2023-01-01- Description: * opening balances- Account 1: assets:bank:checking- Amount 1: $1000- Account 2: assets:bank:savings- Amount 2 [$-1000]: $2000- Account 3: assets:cash- Amount 3 [$-3000]: $100- Account 4: liabilities:creditcard- Amount 4 [$-3100]: $-50- Account 5: equity:opening/closing balances- Amount 5 [$-3050]:- Account 6 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .- 2023-01-01 * opening balances- assets:bank:checking $1000- assets:bank:savings $2000- assets:cash $100- liabilities:creditcard $-50- equity:opening/closing balances $-3050-- Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]:- Saved.- Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)- Date [2023-01-01]: .-- If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit the- journal. Eg:-- $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2023.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 con-- vert CSV data downloaded from your bank.-- Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual and- hledger.org for more ideas:-- 2023/1/10 * gift received- assets:cash $20- income:gifts-- 2023.1.12 * farmers market- expenses:food $13- assets:cash-- 2023-01-15 paycheck- income:salary- assets:bank:checking $1000-- Reconciling- Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported balances- against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your bank's web-- site - 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:-- 2023-01-16 * 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 transac-- tions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track that, by- adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, insert * be-- tween 2023-01-15 and paycheck-- If you're using version control, this can be another good time to commit:-- $ git commit -m 'txns' 2023.journal-- Reporting- Here are some basic reports.-- Show all transactions:-- $ hledger print- 2023-01-01 * opening balances- assets:bank:checking $1000- assets:bank:savings $2000- assets:cash $100- liabilities:creditcard $-50- equity:opening/closing balances $-3050-- 2023-01-10 * gift received- assets:cash $20- income:gifts-- 2023-01-12 * farmers market- expenses:food $13- assets:cash-- 2023-01-15 * paycheck- income:salary- assets:bank:checking $1000-- 2023-01-16 * adjust cash- assets:cash $-2 = $105- expenses:misc-- 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 -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 -2- Balance Sheet 2023-01-16-- || 2023-01-16- ========================++============- 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 2023-01-01-2023-01-16-- || 2023-01-01-2023-01-16- ===============++=======================- Revenues ||- ---------------++------------------------ income:gifts || $20- income:salary || $1000- ---------------++------------------------ || $1020- ===============++=======================- Expenses ||- ---------------++------------------------ expenses:food || $13- expenses:misc || $2- ---------------++------------------------ || $15- ===============++=======================- Net: || $1005-- The final total is your net income during this period.-- Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total:-- $ hledger register cash- 2023-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100- 2023-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120- 2023-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107- 2023-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105-- Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:-- $ hledger activity -W- 2019-12-30 *****- 2023-01-06 ****- 2023-01-13 ****-- 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.--BUGS- We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker- (https://bugs.hledger.org), or on the hledger chat or mail list- (https://hledger.org/support).-- Some known issues and limitations:-- hledger uses the system's text encoding when reading non-ascii text. If no- system encoding is configured, or if the data's encoding is different,- hledger will give an error. (See Text encoding, Troubleshooting.)-- On Microsoft Windows, depending what kind of terminal window you use,- non-ascii characters, ANSI text formatting, and/or the add command's TAB- key, may not be fully supported. (For best results, try a powershell win-- dow.)-- When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than Ledger.-- Troubleshooting- Here are some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger, and- how to resolve them (and remember also you can usually get quick Support):-- PATH issues: I get an error like "No command 'hledger' found"- Depending how you installed hledger, the executables may not be in your- shell's PATH. Eg on unix systems, stack installs hledger in ~/.local/bin- and cabal installs it in ~/.cabal/bin. You may need to add one of these- directories to your shell's PATH, and/or open a new terminal window.-- LEDGER_FILE issues: I configured LEDGER_FILE but hledger is not using it-- * LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell vari-- able. Eg on unix, the command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it.- You may need to use export (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/7411509). On- Windows, $env:LEDGER_FILE should show it.-- * You may need to force your shell to see the new configuration. A simple- way is to close your terminal window and open a new one.-- Text decoding issues: I get errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid- or incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: in-- valid argument (invalid character)"- hledger usually needs its input to be decodable with the system locale's- text encoding. See Text encoding and Install: Text encoding.-- COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: hledger gives an error with my Ledger file- Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax or feature set is supported. See- hledger and Ledger for full details.----AUTHORS- Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.- See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html---COPYRIGHT- Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.---LICENSE- Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.---SEE ALSO- hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)--hledger-1.52 March 2026 HLEDGER(1)+ This manual is for hledger's command line interface, version 1.52.1. It+ also describes the common options, file formats and concepts used by all+ hledger programs. It might accidentally teach you some bookkeeping/ac-+ counting as well! You don't need to know everything in here to use hledger+ productively, but when you have a question about functionality, this doc+ should answer it. It is detailed, so do skip ahead or skim when needed.+ You can read it on hledger.org, or as an info manual or man page on your+ system. You can also open a built-in copy, at a point of interest, by run-+ ning+ hledger --man [CMD], hledger --info [CMD] or hledger help [TOPIC].++ (And for shorter help, try hledger --tldr [CMD].)++ The main function of the hledger CLI is to read plain text files describing+ financial transactions, crunch the numbers, and print a useful report on+ the terminal (or save it as HTML, CSV, JSON or SQL). Many reports are+ available, as subcommands. hledger will also detect other hledger-* exe-+ cutables as extra subcommands.++ hledger usually reads from (and appends to) a journal file specified by the+ LEDGER_FILE environment variable (defaulting to $HOME/.hledger.journal); or+ you can specify files with -f options. It can also read timeclock files,+ timedot files, or any CSV/SSV/TSV file with a date field.++ Here is a small journal file describing one transaction:++ 2015-10-16 bought food+ expenses:food $10+ assets:cash++ Transactions are dated movements of money (etc.) between two or more ac-+ counts: bank accounts, your wallet, revenue/expense categories, people,+ etc. You can choose any account names you wish, using : to indicate subac-+ counts. There must be at least two spaces between account name and amount.+ Positive amounts are inflow to that account (debit), negatives are outflow+ from it (credit). (Some reports show revenue, liability and equity account+ balances as negative numbers as a result; this is normal.)++ hledger's add command can help you add transactions, or you can install+ other data entry UIs like hledger-web or hledger-iadd. For more exten-+ sive/efficient changes, use a text editor: Emacs + ledger-mode, VIM ++ vim-ledger, or VS Code + hledger-vscode are some good choices (see+ https://hledger.org/editors.html).++ To get started, run hledger add and follow the prompts, or save some en-+ tries like the above in $HOME/.hledger.journal, then try commands like:++ $ hledger print -x+ $ hledger aregister assets+ $ hledger balance+ $ hledger balancesheet+ $ hledger incomestatement++ Run hledger to list the commands. See also the "Starting a journal file"+ and "Setting opening balances" sections in PART 5: COMMON TASKS.++PART 1: USER INTERFACE+Input+ hledger reads one or more data files, each time you run it. You can spec-+ ify a file with -f, like so++ $ hledger -f FILE [-f FILE2 ...] print++ Files are most often in hledger's journal format, with the .journal file+ extension (.hledger or .j also work); these files describe transactions,+ like an accounting general journal.++ When no file is specified, hledger looks for .hledger.journal in your home+ directory.++ But most people prefer to keep financial files in a dedicated folder, per-+ haps with version control. Also, starting a new journal file each year is+ common (it's not required, but helps keep things fast and organised). So+ we usually configure a different journal file, by setting the LEDGER_FILE+ environment variable, to something like ~/finance/2023.journal. For more+ about how to do that on your system, see Common tasks > Setting+ LEDGER_FILE.++ Text encoding+ hledger expects non-ascii input to be decodable with the system locale's+ text encoding. (For CSV/SSV/TSV files, this can be overridden by the en-+ coding CSV rule.)++ So, trying to read non-ascii files which have the wrong text encoding, or+ when no system locale is configured, will fail. To fix this, configure+ your system locale appropriately, and/or convert the files to your system's+ text encoding (using iconv on unix, or powershell or notepad on Windows).+ See Install: Text encoding for more tips.++ hledger's output will use the system locale's encoding.++ hledger's docs and example files mostly use UTF-8 encoding.++ 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: Automatically used for+ files with extensions:+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ journal hledger journal files and some .journal .j .hledger+ Ledger journals, for transactions .ledger+ timeclock timeclock files, for precise time .timeclock+ logging+ timedot timedot files, for approximate .timedot+ time logging+ csv Comma- or other delimiter-sepa- .csv+ rated values, for data import+ ssv Semicolon separated values .ssv+ tsv Tab separated values .tsv+ rules CSV/SSV/TSV/other separated val- .rules+ ues, alternate way++ These formats are described in more detail below.++ hledger detects the format automatically based on the file extensions shown+ above. If it can't recognise the file extension, it assumes journal for-+ mat. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a recognised file ex-+ tension, so as to either read successfully or to show relevant error mes-+ sages.++ 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 containing tab separated+ values:++ $ hledger -f tsv:/some/file.dat stats++ Standard input+ The file name - means standard input:++ $ cat FILE | hledger -f- print++ If reading non-journal data in this way, you'll need to write the format as+ a prefix, like timeclock: here:++ $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -f timeclock:-++ Multiple files+ You can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big+ journal. When doing this, note that certain features (described below)+ will be affected:++ * Balance assertions will not see the effect of transactions in previous+ files. (Usually this doesn't matter as each file will set the corre-+ sponding opening balances.)++ * Some directives will not affect previous or subsequent files.++ If needed, you can work around these by using a single parent file which+ includes the others, or concatenating the files into one, eg: cat a.journal+ b.journal | hledger -f- CMD.++ 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 ? (Ac-+ count error checking)++ * Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ? (Commodity er-+ ror checking)++ * Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?++ You can use the check command to run individual checks - the ones listed+ above and some more.++Commands+ hledger provides various subcommands for getting things done. Most of+ these commands do not change the journal file; they just read it and output+ a report. A few commands assist with adding data and file management.+ Some often-used commands are add, print, register, balancesheet and in-+ comestatement.++ To show a summary of commands, run hledger with no arguments. You can see+ the same commands summary at the start of PART 4: COMMANDS below.++ To use a particular command, run hledger CMD [CMDOPTS] [CMDARGS],++ * CMD is the full command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in the+ commands list, or any unambiguous prefix of the name.++ * CMDOPTS are command-specific options, if any. Command-specific options+ must be written after the command name. Eg: hledger print -x.++ * CMDARGS are additional arguments to the command, if any. Most hledger+ commands accept arguments representing a query, to limit the data in some+ way. Eg: hledger reg assets:checking.++ To list a command's options, arguments, and documentation in the terminal,+ run hledger CMD -h. Eg: hledger bal -h.++ Add-on commands+ In addition to the built-in commands, you can install add-on commands,+ which will also appear in hledger's commands list. Some of these can be+ installed as separate packages; others can be found in hledger's bin/ di-+ rectory, documented at https://hledger.org/scripts.html.++ Add-on commands are programs or scripts in your shell's PATH, whose name+ starts with "hledger-" and ends with no extension or a recognised extension+ (".bat", ".com", ".exe", ".hs", ".js", ".lhs", ".lua", ".php", ".pl",+ ".py", ".rb", ".rkt", or ".sh"), and (on unix and mac) which has executable+ permission for the current user.++ You can run add-on commands directly: hledger-ui --watch.++ Or you can run them with hledger, like built-in commands: hledger ui+ --watch. In this case hledger's config file will be used, so you can set+ custom options for the addon there. (Before hledger 1.50, an -- argument+ was needed before addon options, but not any more.)++Options+ Run hledger -h to see general command line help. Options can be written+ either before or after the command name. These options are specific to the+ hledger CLI:++ Flags:+ --conf=CONFFILE Use extra options defined in this config file. If+ not specified, searches upward and in XDG config+ dir for hledger.conf (or .hledger.conf in $HOME).+ -n --no-conf ignore any config file++ And the following general options are common to most hledger commands:++ General input/data transformation flags:+ -f --file=[FMT:]FILE Read data from FILE, or from stdin if FILE is -,+ inferring format from extension or a FMT: prefix.+ Can be specified more than once. If not specified,+ reads from $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal.+ --rules=RULESFILE Use rules defined in this rules file for+ converting subsequent CSV/SSV/TSV files. If not+ specified, uses FILE.csv.rules for each FILE.csv.+ --alias=A=B|/RGX/=RPL transform account names from A to B, or by+ replacing regular expression matches+ --auto generate extra postings by applying auto posting+ rules ("=") to all transactions+ --forecast[=PERIOD] Generate extra transactions from periodic rules+ ("~"), from after the latest ordinary transaction+ until 6 months from now. Or, during the specified+ PERIOD (the equals is required). Auto posting rules+ will also be applied to these transactions. In+ hledger-ui, also make future-dated transactions+ visible at startup.+ -I --ignore-assertions don't check balance assertions by default+ --txn-balancing=... how to check that transactions are balanced:+ 'old': use global display precision+ 'exact': use transaction precision (default)+ --infer-costs infer conversion equity postings from costs+ --infer-equity infer costs from conversion equity postings+ --infer-market-prices infer market prices from costs+ --pivot=TAGNAME use a different field or tag as account names+ -s --strict do extra error checks (and override -I)+ --verbose-tags add tags indicating generated/modified data++ General output/reporting flags (supported by some commands):+ -b --begin=DATE include postings/transactions on/after this date+ -e --end=DATE include postings/transactions before this date+ (with a report interval, will be adjusted to+ following subperiod end)+ -D --daily multiperiod report with 1 day interval+ -W --weekly multiperiod report with 1 week interval+ -M --monthly multiperiod report with 1 month interval+ -Q --quarterly multiperiod report with 1 quarter interval+ -Y --yearly multiperiod report with 1 year interval+ -p --period=PERIODEXP set begin date, end date, and/or report interval,+ with more flexibility+ --today=DATE override today's date (affects relative dates)+ --date2 match/use secondary dates instead (deprecated)+ -U --unmarked include only unmarked postings/transactions+ -P --pending include only pending postings/transactions+ -C --cleared include only cleared postings/transactions+ (-U/-P/-C can be combined)+ -R --real include only non-virtual postings+ -E --empty Show zero items, which are normally hidden.+ In hledger-ui & hledger-web, do the opposite.+ --depth=DEPTHEXP if a number (or -NUM): show only top NUM levels+ of accounts. If REGEXP=NUM, only apply limiting to+ accounts matching the regular expression.+ -B --cost show amounts converted to their cost/sale amount+ -V --market Show amounts converted to their value at period+ end(s) in their default valuation commodity.+ Equivalent to --value=end.+ -X --exchange=COMM Show amounts converted to their value at period+ end(s) in the specified commodity.+ Equivalent to --value=end,COMM.+ --value=WHEN[,COMM] show amounts converted to their value on the+ specified date(s) in their default valuation+ commodity or a specified commodity. WHEN can be:+ 'then': value on transaction dates+ 'end': value at period end(s)+ 'now': value today+ YYYY-MM-DD: value on given date+ -c --commodity-style=S Override a commodity's display style.+ Eg: -c '.' or -c '1.000,00 EUR'+ --pretty[=YN] Use box-drawing characters in text output? Can be+ 'y'/'yes' or 'n'/'no'.+ If YN is specified, the equals is required.++ General help flags:+ -h --help show command line help+ --tldr show command examples with tldr+ --info show the manual with info+ --man show the manual with man+ --version show version information+ --debug=[1-9] show this much debug output (default: 1)+ --pager=YN use a pager when needed ? y/yes (default) or n/no+ --color=YNA --colour use ANSI color ? y/yes, n/no, or auto (default)++ Usually hledger accepts any unambiguous flag prefix, eg you can write --tl+ instead of --tldr or --dry instead of --dry-run.++ You can combine short flags which don't take arguments, eg you can write+ -MAST instead of -M -A -S -T. Flags requiring an argument can't be com-+ bined in this way (-If FILE won't work).++ If the same option appears more than once in a command line, usually the+ last (right-most) wins. Similarly, if mutually exclusive flags are used+ together, the right-most wins. (When flags are mutually exclusive, they'll+ usually have a group prefix in --help.)++ With most commands, arguments are interpreted as a hledger query which fil-+ ter the data. Some queries can be expressed either with options or with+ arguments.++ Below are more tips for using the command line interface - feel free to+ skip these until you need them.++ Special characters+ In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have special+ meaning and sometimes need to be "escaped" or "quoted", by prefixing back-+ slashes or enclosing in quotes.++ If you are able to minimise the use of special characters in your data, you+ won't have to deal with this as much. For example, you could use hyphen -+ or underscore _ instead of spaces in account names, and you could use the+ USD currency code instead of the $ currency symbol in amounts.++ But if you prefer to use spaced account names and $, it's fine. Just be+ aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed. (These examples+ are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be adapted if you're+ on Windows.)++ Escaping shell special characters+ These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell (the+ program which interprets command lines):++ * SPACE, <, >, (, ), |, \, %++ * $ if followed by a word character++ So for example, to match an account name containing spaces, like "credit+ card", don't write:++ $ hledger register credit card++ Instead, enclose the name in single quotes:++ $ hledger register 'credit card'++ On unix or in Windows powershell, if you use double quotes your shell will+ silently treat $ as variable interpolation. So you should probably avoid+ double quotes, unless you want that behaviour, eg in a script:++ $ hledger register "assets:$SOMEACCT"++ But in an older Windows CMD.EXE window, you must use double quotes:++ C:\Users\Me> hledger register "credit card"++ On unix or in Windows powershell, as an alternative to quotes you can write+ a backslash before each special character:++ $ hledger register credit\ card++ Finally, since hledger's query arguments are regular expressions (described+ below), you could also fill that gap with . which matches any character:++ $ hledger register credit.card++ Escaping regular expression special characters+ Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which+ hledger's arguments often are. Those include:++ * ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, \++ To escape one of these, write \ before it. But note this is in addition to+ the shell escaping above. So for characters which are special to both+ shell and regular expressions, like \ and $, you will sometimes need two+ levels of escaping.++ For example, a balance report that uses a cur: query restricting it to just+ the $ currency, should be written like this:++ $ hledger balance cur:\\$++ Explanation:++ 1. Add a backslash \ before the dollar sign $ to protect it from regular+ expressions (so it will be matched literally with no special meaning).++ 2. Add another backslash before that backslash, to protect it from the+ shell (so the shell won't consume it).++ 3. $ doesn't need to be protected from the shell in this case, because it's+ not followed by a word character; but it would be harmless to do so.++ But here's another way to write that, which tends to be easier: add back-+ slashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with quotes to es-+ cape from the shell:++ $ hledger balance cur:'\$'++ Escaping in other situations+ hledger options and arguments are sometimes used in places other than the+ command line, where the escaping/quoting rules are different. For example,+ backslash-quoting may not be available. Here's a quick reference:++ In unix shell Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes+ for variable interpolation)+ In Windows power- Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable in-+ shell terpolation)+ In Windows cmd Use double quotes+ In hledger-ui's Use single or double quotes+ filter prompt+ In hledger-web's Use single or double quotes+ search form+ In an argument Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape, do regex-es-+ file cape, write one argument/option per line+ In a config file Use single or double quotes, and enclose the whole+ argument ('desc:a b' not desc:'a b')+ In ghci (the Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument+ Haskell REPL)++ 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, which can decode the characters being+ used. This is essential - see Text encoding and Install: Text encoding.++ * Your terminal software (eg Terminal.app, iTerm, CMD.exe, xterm..) must+ support unicode. On Windows, you may need to use Windows Terminal.++ * 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).++ Regular expressions+ A regular expression (regexp) is a small piece of text where certain char-+ acters (like ., ^, $, +, *, (), |, [], \) have special meanings, forming a+ tiny language for matching text precisely - very useful in hledger and+ elsewhere. To learn all about them, visit regular-expressions.info.++ hledger supports regexps whenever you are entering a pattern to match some-+ thing, eg in query arguments, account aliases, CSV if rules, hledger-web's+ search form, hledger-ui's / search, etc. You may need to wrap them in+ quotes, especially at the command line (see Special characters above).+ Here are some examples:++ Account name queries (quoted for command line use):++ Regular expression: Matches:+ ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------+ bank assets:bank, assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy, ...+ :bank assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy+ :bank: assets:bank:savings+ '^bank' none of those ( ^ matches beginning of text )+ 'bank$' assets:bank ( $ matches end of text )+ 'big \$ bank' big $ bank ( \ disables following character's special meaning )+ '\bbank\b' assets:bank, assets:bank:savings ( \b matches word boundaries )+ '(sav|check)ing' saving or checking ( (|) matches either alternative )+ 'saving|checking' saving or checking ( outer parentheses are not needed )+ 'savings?' saving or savings ( ? matches 0 or 1 of the preceding thing )+ 'my +bank' my bank, my bank, ... ( + matches 1 or more of the preceding thing )+ 'my *bank' mybank, my bank, my bank, ... ( * matches 0 or more of the preceding thing )+ 'b.nk' bank, bonk, b nk, ... ( . matches any character )++ Some other queries:++ desc:'amazon|amzn|audible' Amazon transactions+ cur:EUR amounts with commodity symbol containing EUR+ cur:'\$' amounts with commodity symbol containing $+ cur:'^\$$' only $ amounts, not eg AU$ or CA$+ cur:....? amounts with 4-or-more-character symbols+ tag:.=202[1-3] things with any tag whose value contains 2021, 2022 or 2023++ Account name aliases: accept . instead of : as account separator:++ alias /\./=: replaces all periods in account names with colons++ Show multiple top-level accounts combined as one:++ --alias='/^[^:]+/=combined' ( [^:] matches any character other than : )++ Show accounts with the second-level part removed:++ --alias '/^([^:]+):[^:]+/ = \1'+ match a top-level account and a second-level account+ and replace those with just the top-level account+ ( \1 in the replacement text means "whatever was matched+ by the first parenthesised part of the regexp"++ CSV rules: match CSV records containing dining-related MCC codes:++ if \?MCC581[124]++ Match CSV records with a specific amount around the end/start of month:++ if %amount \b3\.99+ & %date (29|30|31|01|02|03)$++ hledger's regular expressions+ 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 sup-+ port:++ 1. they are case insensitive++ 2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing be-+ ing matched)++ 3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions)++ 4. they also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>)++ 5. backreferences are supported when doing text replacement in account+ aliases or CSV rules, where backreferences can be used in the replace-+ ment string to reference capturing groups in the search regexp. Other-+ wise, if you write \1, it will match the digit 1.++ 6. they do not support lazy quantifiers (*?), mode modifiers ((?s)), char-+ acter classes (\w, \d), or anything else not mentioned above.++ 7. they may not (I'm guessing not) properly support right-to-left or bidi-+ rectional text.++ 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 lit-+ eral 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 charac-+ ters.++ Argument files+ You can save a set of command line options and arguments in a file, and+ then use them by writing @FILE.args as a hledger command argument. The+ .args file extension is conventional, but not required. In an argument+ file,++ * Each line can contain one argument, flag, or option.++ * Blank lines or lines beginning with # are ignored.++ * An option's flag and value should be joined by =.++ * An option value or an argument may contain spaces. Don't use single or+ double quotes.++ * And generally, use one less level of quoting/escaping than at the command+ line. Eg cur:\$, not cur:\\$ as on the command line.++ For example:++ # cash.args++ assets:cash+ assets:charles schwab:sweep+ cur:\$+ -c=$1.++ $ hledger bal @cash.args++ Config files+ With hledger 1.40+, you can save extra command line options and arguments+ in a more featureful hledger config file. Here's a small example:++ # General options are listed first, and used with hledger commands that support them.+ --pretty++ # Options following a `[COMMAND]` heading are used with that hledger command only.+ [print]+ --explicit --infer-costs++ To use a config file, specify it with the --conf option. Its options will+ be inserted near the start of your command line, so you can override them+ with command line options if needed.++ Or, you can set up an automatic config file that is used whenever you run+ hledger, by creating hledger.conf in the current directory or above, or+ .hledger.conf in your home directory (~/.hledger.conf), or hledger.conf in+ your XDG config directory (~/.config/hledger/hledger.conf).++ Here is another example config you could start with: https://github.com/si-+ monmichael/hledger/blob/master/hledger.conf.sample++ You can put not only options, but also arguments in a config file. If the+ first word in a config file's top (general) section does not begin with a+ dash (eg: print), it is treated as the command argument (overriding any ar-+ gument on the command line).++ On unix machines, you can add a shebang line at the top of a config file,+ set executable permission on the file, and use it like a script. Eg (the+ -S is needed on some operating systems):++ #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger --conf++ You can ignore config files by adding the -n/--no-conf flag to the command+ line. This is useful when using hledger in scripts, or when troubleshoot-+ ing. When both --conf and --no-conf options are used, the right-most wins.++ To inspect the processing of config files, use --debug or --debug=8. Or,+ run the setup command, which will display any active config files. (setup+ is not affected by config files itself, unlike other commands.)++ Warning!++ There aren't many hledger features that need a warning, but this is one!++ Automatic config files, while convenient, also make hledger less pre-+ dictable and dependable. It's easy to make a config file that changes a+ report's behaviour, or breaks your hledger-using scripts/applications, in+ ways that will surprise you later.++ If you don't want this,++ 1. Just don't create a hledger.conf file on your machine.++ 2. Also be alert to downloaded directories which may contain a hledger.conf+ file.++ 3. Also if you are sharing scripts or examples or support, consider that+ others may have a hledger.conf file.++ Conversely, once you decide to use this feature, try to remember:++ 1. Whenever a hledger command does not work as expected, try it again with+ -n (--no-conf) to see if a config file was to blame.++ 2. Whenever you call hledger from a script, consider whether that call+ should use -n or not.++ 3. Be conservative about what you put in your config file; try to consider+ the effect on all your reports.++ 4. To troubleshoot the effect of config files, run with --debug or --debug+ 8.++ The config file feature was added in hledger 1.40.++ Shell completions+ If you use the bash or zsh shells, you can optionally set up context-sensi-+ tive autocompletion for hledger command lines. Try pressing+ hledger<SPACE><TAB><TAB> (should list all hledger commands) or hledger reg+ acct:<TAB><TAB> (should list your top-level account names). If completions+ aren't working, or for more details, see Install > Shell completions.++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 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)++ Output format+ Some commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the terminal.+ Here are those commands and the formats currently supported:++ command txt html csv/tsv fods beancount sql json+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ aregister Y Y Y Y Y+ balance Y Y Y Y Y+ balancesheet Y Y Y Y Y+ balancesheetequity Y Y Y Y Y+ cashflow Y Y Y Y Y+ incomestatement Y Y Y Y Y+ print Y Y Y Y Y Y Y+ register Y Y Y Y Y++ You can also see which output formats a command supports by running hledger+ CMD -h and looking for the -O/--output-format=FMT option,++ You can select the output format by using that option:++ $ hledger print -O csv # print CSV to standard output++ or by choosing a suitable filename extension with the -o/--out-+ put-file=FILE.FMT option:++ $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.csv # write CSV to foo.csv++ The -O option can be combined with -o to override the file extension if+ needed:++ $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv # write CSV to foo.txt++ Here are some notes about the various output formats.++ Text output+ This is the default: human readable, plain text report output, suitable for+ viewing with a monospace font in a terminal. If your data contains unicode+ or wide characters, you'll need a terminal and font that render those cor-+ rectly. (This can be challenging on MS Windows.)++ Some reports (register, aregister) will normally use the full window width.+ If this isn't working or you want to override it, you can use the+ -w/--width option.++ Balance reports (balance, balancesheet, incomestatement...) use whatever+ width they need. Multi-period multi-currency reports can often be wider+ than the window. Besides using a pager, helpful techniques for this situa-+ tion include --layout=bare, -X COMM, cur:, --transpose, --tree, --depth,+ --drop, switching to html output, etc.++ Box-drawing characters+ hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of dis-+ play problems caused by a terminal/font not supporting box-drawing charac-+ ters.++ But your terminal and font probably do support them, so we recommend using+ the --pretty flag to show prettier tables in the terminal. This is a good+ flag to add to your hledger config file.++ Colour+ hledger tries to automatically detect ANSI colour and text styling support+ and use it when appropriate. (Currently, it is used rather minimally: some+ reports show negative numbers in red, and help output uses bold text for+ emphasis.)++ You can override this by setting the NO_COLOR environment variable to dis-+ able it, or by using the --color/--colour option, perhaps in your config+ file, with a y/yes or n/no value to force it on or off.++ Paging+ In unix-like environments, when displaying large output (in any output for-+ mat) in the terminal, hledger tries to use a pager when appropriate. (You+ can disable this with the --pager=no option, perhaps in your config file.)++ The pager shows one page of text at a time, and lets you scroll around to+ see more. While it is active, usually SPACE shows the next page, h shows+ help, and q quits. The home/end/page up/page down/cursor keys, and mouse+ scrolling, may also work.++ hledger will use the pager specified by the PAGER environment variable,+ otherwise less if available, otherwise more if available. (With one excep-+ tion: hledger help -p TOPIC will always use less, so that it can scroll to+ the topic.)++ The pager is expected to display hledger's ANSI colour and text styling.+ If you see junk characters, you might need to configure your pager to han-+ dle ANSI codes. Or you could disable colour as described above.++ If you are using the less pager, hledger tries to provide a consistently+ pleasant experience by running it with some extra options added to your+ LESS environment variable:++ --chop-long-lines --hilite-unread --ignore-case --no-init+ --quit-if-one-screen --shift=8 --squeeze-blank-lines --use-backslash++ and when colour output is enabled:++ --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS++ You can prevent this by setting your preferred options in the HLEDGER_LESS+ variable, which will be used instead of LESS.++ HTML output+ HTML output can be styled by an optional hledger.css file in the same di-+ rectory.++ HTML output will be a HTML fragment, not a complete HTML document. Like+ other hledger output, for non-ascii characters it will use the system lo-+ cale's text encoding (see Text encoding).++ CSV / TSV output+ In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators) are+ disabled automatically.++ FODS output+ FODS is the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format as plain XML, as accepted by+ LibreOffice and OpenOffice. If you use their spreadsheet applications,+ this is better than CSV because it works across locales (decimal point vs.+ decimal comma, character encoding stored in XML header, thus no problems+ with umlauts), it supports fixed header rows and columns, cell types+ (string vs. number vs. date), separation of number and currency (currency+ is displayed but the cell type is still a number accessible for computa-+ tion), styles (bold), borders. Btw. you can still extract CSV from+ FODS/ODS using various utilities like libreoffice --headless or ods2csv.++ Beancount output+ This is Beancount's journal format. You can use this to export your+ hledger data to Beancount, eg to use the Fava web app.++ hledger will try to adjust your data to suit Beancount, automatically. Be+ cautious and check the conversion until you are confident it is good. If+ you plan to export to Beancount often, you may want to follow its conven-+ tions, for a cleaner conversion:++ * use Beancount-friendly account names++ * use currency codes instead of currency symbols++ * use cost notation instead of equity conversion postings++ * avoid virtual postings, balance assignments, and secondary dates.++ There is one big adjustment you must handle yourself: for Beancount, the+ top level account names must be Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, and/or+ Expenses. You can use account aliases to rewrite your account names tem-+ porarily, if needed, as in this hledger2beancount.conf config file.++ 2024-12-20: Some more things not yet handled for you:++ * P directives are not converted automatically - convert those yourself.++ * Balance assignments are not converted (Beancount doesn't support them) -+ replace those with explicit amounts.++ Beancount account names+ Aside from the top-level names, hledger will adjust your account names to+ make valid Beancount account names, by capitalising each part, replacing+ spaces with -, replacing other unsupported characters with C<HEXBYTES>,+ prepending A to account name parts which don't begin with a letter or+ digit, and appending :A to account names which have only one part.++ Beancount commodity names+ hledger will adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount commod-+ ity/currency names, which must be 2-24 uppercase letters, digits, or ', .,+ _, -, beginning with a letter and ending with a letter or digit. hledger+ will convert known currency symbols to ISO 4217 currency codes, capitalise+ letters, replace spaces with -, replace other unsupported characters with+ C<HEXBYTES>, and prepend or append C if needed.++ Beancount virtual postings+ Beancount doesn't allow virtual postings; if you have any, they will be+ omitted from beancount output.++ Beancount metadata+ hledger tags will be converted to Beancount metadata (except for tags whose+ name begins with _). Metadata names will be adjusted to be Beancount-com-+ patible: beginning with a lowercase letter, at least two characters long,+ and with unsupported characters encoded. Metadata values will use Bean-+ count's string type.++ In hledger, objects can have the same tag repeated with multiple values.+ Eg an assets:cash account might have both type:Asset and type:Cash tags.+ For Beancount these will be combined into one, with the values combined,+ comma separated. Eg: type: "Asset, Cash".++ Beancount costs+ Beancount doesn't allow redundant costs and conversion postings as hledger+ does. If you have any of these, the conversion postings will be omitted.+ Currently we support at most one cost + conversion postings group per+ transaction.++ Beancount operating currency+ Declaring an operating currency (or several) improves Beancount and Fava+ reports. Currently hledger will declare each currency used in cost amounts+ as an operating currency. If needed, replace these with your own declara-+ tion, like++ option "operating_currency" "USD"++ SQL output+ SQL output is expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Postgres.++ The SQL statements are expected to be executed in the empty database. If+ you already have tables created via SQL output of hledger, you would proba-+ bly want to either clear data from these (via delete or truncate SQL state-+ ments) or drop the tables completely before import; otherwise your postings+ would be duplicated.++ For SQLite, it is more useful if you modify the generated id field to be a+ PRIMARY KEY. Eg:++ $ hledger print -O sql | sed 's/id serial/id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL/g' | ...++ This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome.++ JSON output+ Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful representation+ of hledger's internal data types. To understand its structure, read the+ Haskell type definitions, which are mostly in https://github.com/simon-+ michael/hledger/blob/master/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs.+ hledger-web's OpenAPI specification may also be relevant.++ hledger stores numbers with sometimes up to 255 significant digits. This+ is too many digits for most JSON consumers, so in JSON output we round num-+ bers to at most 10 decimal places. (We don't limit the number of integer+ digits.) If you find this causing problems, please let us know. Related:+ #1195++ This is not yet much used; feedback is welcome.++ Commodity styles+ When displaying amounts, hledger infers a standard display style for each+ commodity/currency, as described below in Commodity display style.++ If needed, this can be overridden by a -c/--commodity-style option (except+ for cost amounts and amounts displayed by the print command, which are al-+ ways displayed with all decimal digits). For example, the following will+ force dollar amounts to be displayed as shown:++ $ hledger print -c '$1.000,0'++ This option can be repeated to set the display style for multiple commodi-+ ties/currencies. Its argument is as described in the commodity directive.+ Note that omitting the commodity symbol will set the display style for just+ the no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.++ In some cases hledger will adjust number formatting to improve their+ parseability (such as adding trailing decimal marks when needed).++ Debug output+ We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and de-+ velop. You can add --debug[=N] to any hledger command line to see addi-+ tional debug output. N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9+ (maximum output). Typically you would start with 1 and increase until you+ are seeing enough. Debug output goes to stderr, and is not affected by+ -o/--output-file (unless you redirect stderr to stdout, eg: 2>&1). It will+ be interleaved with normal output, which can help reveal when parts of the+ code are evaluated. To capture debug output in a log file instead, you can+ usually redirect stderr, eg:++ hledger bal --debug=3 2>hledger.log++ (This option doesn't work in a config file yet.)++Environment+ These environment variables affect hledger:++ HLEDGER_LESS If less is your pager, this variable specifies the less op-+ tions hledger should use. (Otherwise, LESS + custom options are used.)++ LEDGER_FILE The default journal file, to be used when no -f/--file option+ is provided. For example, it could be ~/finance/main.journal. This can+ also be a glob pattern, eg ./2???.journal. (If the glob matches multiple+ files, only the alphanumerically first one is used.) If LEDGER_FILE points+ to a non-existent file, an error will be raised. If the value is the empty+ string, it is ignored.++ If LEDGER_FILE is not set and -f is not provided, the default journal file+ is $HOME/.hledger.journal (or if a home directory can't be detected,+ ./.hledger.journal).++ See also Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE.++ NO_COLOR If this environment variable exists (with any value, including+ empty), hledger will not use ANSI color codes in terminal output, unless+ overridden by an explicit --color=y or --colour=y option.++PART 2: DATA FORMATS+Journal+ hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal entries+ in hledger journal format. If you're looking for a quick reference, jump+ ahead to the journal cheatsheet (or use the table of contents at+ https://hledger.org/hledger.html).++ This file represents an accounting General Journal. The .journal file ex-+ tension is most often used, though not strictly 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 compatible with most of Ledger's journal for-+ mat, but not all of it. The differences and interoperation tips are de-+ scribed at hledger and Ledger. With some care, and by avoiding incompati-+ ble features, you can keep your hledger journal readable by Ledger and vice+ versa. This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour of one app against+ the other.++ 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 add-ons such as+ ledger-mode or hledger-mode for Emacs, vim-ledger for Vim, and hledger-vs-+ code for Visual Studio Code, make this easier, adding colour, formatting,+ tab completion, and useful commands. See Editors at hledger.org for the+ full list.++ A hledger journal file can contain three kinds of thing: comment lines,+ transactions, and/or directives (including periodic transaction rules and+ auto posting rules). Understanding the journal file format will also give+ you a good understanding of hledger's data model. Here's a quick cheat-+ sheet/overview, followed by detailed descriptions of each part.++ Journal cheatsheet+ # Here is the main syntax of hledger's journal format+ # (omitting extra Ledger compatibility syntax).++ ###############################################################################++ # 1. These are comment lines, for notes or temporarily disabling things.+ ; They begin with # or ;++ comment+ Or, lines can be enclosed within "comment" / "end comment".+ This is a block of+ commented lines.+ end comment++ # Some journal entries can have semicolon comments at end of line ; like this+ # Some of them require 2 or more spaces before the semicolon.++ ###############################################################################++ # 2. Directives customise processing or output in some way.+ # You don't need any directives to get started.+ # But they can add more error checking, or change how things are displayed.+ # They begin with a word, letter, or symbol.+ # They are most often placed at the top, before transactions.++ account assets ; Declare valid account names and display order.+ account assets:savings ; A subaccount. This one represents a bank account.+ account assets:checking ; Another. Note, 2+ spaces after the account name.+ account assets:receivable ; Accounting type is inferred from english names,+ account passifs ; or declared with a "type" tag, type:L+ account expenses ; type:X+ ; A follow-on comment line, indented.+ account expenses:rent ; Expense and revenue categories are also accounts.+ ; Subaccounts inherit their parent's type.++ commodity $0.00 ; Declare valid commodities and their display styles.+ commodity 1.000,00 EUR++ decimal-mark . ; The decimal mark used in this file (if ambiguous).++ payee Whole Foods ; Declare a valid payee name.++ tag trip ; Declare a valid tag name.++ P 2024-03-01 AAPL $179 ; Declare a market price for AAPL in $ on this date.++ include other.journal ; Include another journal file here.++ # Declare a recurring "periodic transaction", for budget/forecast reports+ ~ monthly set budget goals ; <- Note, 2+ spaces before the description.+ (expenses:rent) $1000+ (expenses:food) $500++ # Declare an auto posting rule, to modify existing transactions in reports+ = revenues:consulting+ liabilities:tax:2024:us *0.25 ; Add a tax liability & expense+ expenses:tax:2024:us *-0.25 ; for 25% of the revenue.++ ###############################################################################++ # 3. Transactions are what it's all about.+ # They are dated events, usually movements of money between 2 or more accounts.+ # They begin with a numeric date.+ # Here is their basic shape:+ #+ # DATE DESCRIPTION ; The transaction's date and optional description.+ # ACCOUNT1 AMOUNT ; A posting of an amount to/from this account, indented.+ # ACCOUNT2 AMOUNT ; A second posting, balancing the first.+ # ... ; More if needed. Amounts must sum to zero.+ # ; Note, 2+ spaces between account names and amounts.++ 2024-01-01 opening balances ; At the start, declare pre-existing balances this way.+ assets:savings $10000 ; Account names can be anything. lower case is easy to type.+ assets:checking $1000 ; assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses are common.+ liabilities:credit card $-500 ; liabilities, equity, revenues balances are usually negative.+ equity:start ; One amount can be left blank. $-10500 is inferred here.+ ; Some of these accounts we didn't declare above,+ ; so -s/--strict would complain.++ 2024-01-03 ! (12345) pay rent+ ; Additional transaction comment lines, indented.+ ; There can be a ! or * after the date meaning "pending" or "cleared".+ ; There can be a parenthesised (code) after the date/status.+ ; Amounts' sign shows direction of flow.+ assets:checking $-500 ; Minus means removed from this account (credit).+ expenses:rent $500 ; Plus means added to this account (debit).++ ; Keeping transactions in date order is optional (but helps error checking).++ 2024-01-02 Gringott's Bank | withdrawal ; Description can be PAYEE | NOTE+ assets:bank:gold -10 gold+ assets:pouch 10 gold++ 2024-01-02 shopping+ expenses:clothing 1 gold+ expenses:wands 5 gold+ assets:pouch -6 gold++ 2024-01-02 receive gift+ revenues:gifts -3 "Chocolate Frogs" ; Complex commodity symbols+ assets:pouch 3 "Chocolate Frogs" ; must be in double quotes.++ 2024-01-15 buy some shares, in two lots ; Cost can be noted.+ assets:investments:2024-01-15 2.0 AAAA @ $1.50 ; @ means per-unit cost+ assets:investments:2024-01-15-02 3.0 AAAA @@ $4 ; @@ means total cost+ ; ^ Per-lot subaccounts are sometimes useful.+ assets:checking $-7++ 2024-01-15 assert some account balances on this date+ ; Balances can be asserted in any transaction, with =, for extra error checking.+ ; Assertion txns like this one can be made with hledger close --assert --show-costs+ ;+ assets:savings $0 = $10000+ assets:checking $0 = $493+ assets:bank:gold 0 gold = -10 gold+ assets:pouch 0 gold = 4 gold+ assets:pouch 0 "Chocolate Frogs" = 3 "Chocolate Frogs"+ assets:investments:2024-01-15 0.0 AAAA = 2.0 AAAA @ $1.50+ assets:investments:2024-01-15-02 0.0 AAAA = 3.0 AAAA @@ $4+ liabilities:credit card $0 = $-500++ 2024-02-01 note some event, or a transaction not yet fully entered, on this date+ ; Postings are not required.++ # Consistent YYYY-MM-DD date format is recommended,+ # but you can use . or / and omit leading zeros if you prefer.+ 2024.01.01+ 2024/1/1++ Comments+ Lines in the journal will be ignored if they begin with a hash (#) or a+ semicolon (;). (See also Other syntax.) hledger will also ignore regions+ beginning with a comment line and ending with an end comment line (or file+ end). Here's a suggestion for choosing between them:++ * # for top-level notes++ * ; for commenting out things temporarily++ * comment for quickly commenting large regions (remember it's there, or you+ might get confused)++ Eg:++ # a comment line+ ; another commentline+ comment+ A multi-line comment block,+ continuing until "end comment" directive+ or the end of the current file.+ end comment++ Some hledger entries can have same-line comments attached to them, from ;+ (semicolon) to end of line. See Transaction comments, Posting comments,+ and Account comments below.++ Transactions+ Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They rep-+ resent 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++ Dates+ Simple dates+ Dates in the journal file use simple dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD+ or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional. The year may be omitted, in+ which case it will be inferred from the context: the current transaction,+ the default year set with a Y directive, or the current date when the com-+ mand 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.)++ Posting dates+ You can give individual postings a different date from their parent trans-+ action, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below) like ;+ date:DATE. (There's also a Ledger-compatible syntax, ; [DATE], which can+ be convenient.)++ 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.+ The date: tag must have a valid simple date value if it is present, eg a+ date: tag with no value is not allowed.++ Status+ Transactions (or individual postings within a transaction) can have a sta-+ tus 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/--pend-+ ing, and -C/--cleared flags (and you can combine these, eg -UP to match all+ except cleared things). Or you can use the status:, status:!, and status:*+ queries, or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.++ (Note: in Ledger the "unmarked" state is called "uncleared"; in hledger we+ renamed it to "unmarked" for semantic clarity.)++ 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 transac-+ tion 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 un-+ cashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of your fi-+ nances.++ Code+ After the status mark, but before the description, you can optionally write+ a transaction "code", such as a check number or transaction id, enclosed in+ parentheses,++ This has a few limitations: The code must not contain a closing parenthesis+ (or it will be truncated). Codes tend to disrupt alignment of the register+ report, making it harder to scan visually. And you can't store more than+ one value there per transaction. For these reasons you might want to avoid+ the code field and use tags(#tags] instead.++ Description+ After the date, status mark and/or code fields, the rest of the line (or+ until a comment is begun with ;) is the transaction's description. Here+ you can describe the transaction (called the "narration" in traditional+ bookkeeping), or you can record a payee/payer name, or you can leave it+ empty.++ Transaction descriptions show up in print output and in register reports,+ and can be listed with the descriptions command.++ You can query by description with desc:DESCREGEX, or pivot on description+ with --pivot desc.++ Payee and note+ Sometimes people want a dedicated payee/payer field that can be queried and+ checked more strictly. If you want that, you can write a | (pipe) charac-+ ter in the description. This divides it into a "payee" field on the left,+ and a "note" field on the right. (Either can be empty.)++ You can query these with payee:PAYEEREGEX and note:NOTEREGEX, list their+ values with the payees and notes commands, or pivot on payee or note.++ Note: in transactions with no | character, description, payee, and note all+ have the same value. Once a | is added, they become distinct. (If you'd+ like to change this behaviour, please propose it on the mail list.)++ If you want more strict error checking, you can declare the valid payee+ names with payee directives, and then enforce these with hledger check pay-+ ees. (Note: because of the above, for this you'll need to ensure every+ transaction description contains a | and therefore a checkable payee name,+ even if it's empty.)++ Transaction comments+ Text following ;, after a transaction description, and/or on indented lines+ immediately below it, form comments for that transaction. They are repro-+ duced by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which+ are not ignored.++ 2012-01-01 something ; a transaction comment+ ; a second line of transaction comment+ expenses 1+ assets++ 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 including single spaces.+ If anything follows the account name on the same line, the account name+ must be ended by two or more spaces.)++ * (optional) an amount++ * (optional) a same-line posting comment, beginning with a semicolon (;).++ If the amount is positive, it is being added to the account; if negative,+ it is being removed from the account.++ The posting amounts in a transaction must sum up to zero, indicating that+ the inflows and outflows are equal. We call this a balanced transaction.+ (You can read more about the details of transaction balancing below.)++ If no amount is written, it will be calculated automatically from the other+ postings in the transaction, so as to balance the transaction. In other+ words, in any transaction you can leave one posting amountless to save typ-+ ing.++ Debits and credits+ The traditional accounting concepts of debit and credit of course exist in+ hledger, but we represent them with numeric sign. Positive and negative+ posting amounts represent debits and credits respectively.++ You don't need to remember that, but if you would like to - eg for helping+ newcomers or for talking with your accountant - here's a handy mnemonic:++ debit / plus / left / short words+ credit / minus / right / longer words++ Account names+ Accounts are the main way of categorising things in hledger. As in Double+ Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts (such as a bank+ account), or more abstract categories such as "money spent on food" or+ "money borrowed from Frank".++ Account names are flexible. They may be capitalised or not; they may con-+ tain letters, numbers, punctuation, symbols, or single spaces; they may be+ in any language.++ Typically we use the five traditional accounting categories as the starting+ point for account names. In english they are:++ assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses++ These will be discussed more in Account types below. In hledger docs you+ may see them referred to as A, L, E, R, X for short.++ Two space delimiter+ Note the two or more spaces delimiter that's sometimes required after ac-+ count names. hledger's account names, inherited from Ledger, are very+ permissive; they may contain pretty much any kind of text, including single+ spaces and semicolons. Because of this, they must be terminated by two or+ more spaces if there is anything following them on the same line. For ex-+ ample, if an amount, balance assignment, or same-line comment follows an+ account name, they must be preceded by two or more spaces, else they would+ be considered part of the account name:++ bad: assets:accounts receivable $10 ; <- too close!+ good: assets:accounts receivable $10++ bad: assets:accounts receivable =$1000 ; <- too close!+ good: assets:accounts receivable =$1000++ bad: assets:accounts receivable ; comment. <- too close!+ good: assets:accounts receivable ; comment++ This two-space delimiter appears in a few places in hledger, such as after+ account names in postings or account directives; also after the period ex-+ pression in periodic transaction rules. When you are starting out, expect+ it to catch you out at least once. It's annoying sometimes, but it lets us+ use expressive account names while still keeping the syntax light.++ Account hierarchy+ For more precise reporting, we usually divide accounts into more detailed+ subaccounts, subsubaccounts, and so on, by writing a full colon between ac-+ count name parts. For example, instead of writing assets and expenses, we+ might write assets:bank:checking and expenses:food. From these names+ hledger will infer this hierarchy of five accounts:++ assets+ assets:bank+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses+ expenses:food++ Or as an outline:++ assets+ bank+ checking+ expenses+ food++ hledger reports can summarise the account tree to any depth, so you can+ make your subcategories as detailed as you like. But don't go overboard,+ especially when getting started; simpler categories can be less work.++ Other account name features+ Enclosing the account name in parentheses or brackets, like (ex-+ penses:food), enables a non-standard bookkeeping feature: virtual postings.++ Account names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or perma-+ nently, by account aliases.++ Amounts+ After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Remember: between ac-+ count name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.)++ hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international for-+ mats. 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++ Decimal marks+ A decimal mark can be written as a period or a comma:++ 1.23+ 1,23++ Both of these are common in international number formats, so hledger is not+ biased towards one or the other. Because hledger also supports digit group+ marks (eg thousands separators), this means that a number like 1,000 or+ 1.000 containing just one period or comma is ambiguous. In such cases,+ hledger by default assumes it is a decimal mark, and will parse both of+ those as 1.++ To help hledger parse such ambiguous numbers more accurately, if you use+ digit group marks, we recommend declaring the decimal mark explicitly. The+ best way is to add a decimal-mark directive at the top of each data file,+ like this:++ decimal-mark .++ Or you can declare it per commodity with commodity directives, described+ below.++ hledger also accepts numbers like 10. with no digits after the decimal mark+ (and will sometimes display numbers that way to disambiguate them - see+ Trailing decimal marks).++ Digit group marks+ In the integer part of the amount quantity (left of the decimal mark),+ groups of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark - a+ comma or period (whichever is not used as decimal mark), or a space (sev-+ eral Unicode space variants, like no-break space, are also accepted). So+ these are all valid amounts in a journal file:++ $1,000,000.00+ EUR 2.000.000,00+ INR 9,99,99,999.00+ 1 000 000.00 ; <- ordinary space+ 1 000 000.00 ; <- no-break space++ Commodity+ Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal num-+ ber, 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 punctua-+ tion), 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 power-+ ful 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 prac-+ tice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in hledger's output; you+ can't write them directly in the journal file.++ By default, the format of amounts in the journal influences how hledger+ displays them in output. This is explained in Commodity display style be-+ low.++ Costs+ In traditional double entry bookkeeping, to record a transaction where one+ commodity is exchanged for another, you add extra equity postings to bal-+ ance the two commodities. Eg:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars $-123+ equity:conversion $123+ equity:conversion a-100+ assets:euros a100++ hledger offers a more convenient @/@@ "cost notation" as an alternative:+ instead of equity postings, you can write the "conversion rate" or "trans-+ acted price" after a posting amount. hledger docs generically call this+ "cost", whether buying or selling. It can be written as either @ UNITPRICE+ or @@ TOTALPRICE. Eg you could write the above as:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars $-123+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.23 ; unit cost (exchange rate)++ or:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars $-123+ assets:euros a100 @@ $123 ; total cost++ The cost should normally be a positive amount. Negative costs are sup-+ ported, but can be confusing, as discussed at --infer-market-prices: market+ prices from transactions.++ Costs participate in transaction balancing. Amounts are converted to their+ cost before checking if the transaction is balanced. You could also write+ the above less redundantly, like so:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars ; $-123 is inferred+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.23++ or:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars ; $-123 is inferred+ assets:euros a100 @@ $123++ or even:++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:euros a100 ; @@ $123 is inferred+ assets:dollars $-123++ This last form works for transactions involving exactly two commodities,+ with neither cost notation nor equity postings. Note, the order of post-+ ings is significant: the cost will be attached to the first (top) posting.+ So we had to switch the order of postings, to get the same meaning as+ above. Also, this form is the easiest to make undetected errors with; so+ it is rejected by hledger check balanced, and by strict mode.++ Advantages of cost notation:++ 1. it's more compact and easier to read and write++ 2. hledger reports can show such amounts converted to their cost, when you+ add the -B/--cost flag (see Cost reporting).++ Advantages of equity postings++ 1. they help to keep the accounting equation balanced (if you care about+ that)++ 2. they translate easily to any other double entry accounting system.++ Most hledger users use cost notation and don't use equity postings.++ But you can always convert cost notation to equity postings by adding --in-+ fer-equity. Eg try hledger print -x --infer-equity.++ And you can usually convert equity postings to cost notation by adding+ --infer-costs (see Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings).+ Eg try hledger print -x --infer-costs.++ Finally: using both equity postings and cost notation at the same time is+ allowed, as long as the journal entry is well formed such that the equity+ postings / cost equivalences can be detected. (Otherwise you'll get an er-+ ror message saying that the transaction is unbalanced.):++ 2026-01-01 buy euros+ assets:dollars $-123+ equity:conversion $123+ equity:conversion a-100+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.23++ So in principle you could enable both --infer-equity and --infer-costs in+ your config file, and your reports would have the advantages of both.++ Cost basis+ If you are buying some commodity to hold as an investment, it may be impor-+ tant to keep track of++ 1. its original acquisition cost++ 2. its original acquisition date++ 3. and a sequence number or label, if needed, to disambiguate multiple ac-+ quisitions on the same day, or to serve as a mnemonic for easy refer-+ ence.++ In hledger we call these three the "cost basis"; and if an amount being ac-+ quired has a cost basis, we call it a "lot". Tax authorities sometimes re-+ quire that lots are tracked in detail and disposed of (sold) in a certain+ order.++ Note, though "cost basis" sounds similar to the "cost" (transacted price)+ discussed above, they are distinct concepts. In some transactions the+ transacted price and basis cost are the same, but in others they are not.+ So cost basis is recorded with its own syntax, called "cost basis annota-+ tions".++ hledger 1.x supports Ledger-style cost basis syntax: one or more of the+ following annotations, following the main amount:++ * {LOTUNITCOST} or {{LOTTOTALCOST}} (see lot price)++ * [LOTDATE] (see lot date)++ * (LOTLABEL) (see lot note)++ hledger 1 does not provide automated lot/gains tracking, and ignores these+ cost basis annotations. But it will preserve and show them in print's txt,+ beancount, and json output. This means you can use this syntax in your+ journal (perhaps with an amountless extra posting to help transactions bal-+ ance, if needed), then export to Ledger or Beancount or rustledger to do+ lots/gains reporting. See Export Lots workflow.++ (hledger 2.x has lots/gains reporting built in. It also supports a more+ convenient Beancount-like {DATE, "LABEL", COST} syntax.)++ 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-asser-+ tions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or for reading Ledger+ files. (Note: this flag currently does not disable balance assignments,+ described below).++ Assertions and ordering+ hledger calculates and checks an account's balance assertions in date order+ (and when there are multiple assertions on the same day, in parse order).+ Note this is different from Ledger, which checks assertions always in parse+ order, ignoring dates.++ This means in hledger you can freely reorder transactions, postings, or+ files, and balance assertions will usually keep working. The exception is+ when you reorder multiple postings on the same day, to the same account,+ which have balance assertions; those will likely need updating.++ Assertions and multiple files+ If an account has transactions appearing in multiple files, balance asser-+ tions can still work - but only if those files are part of a hierarchy made+ by include directives.++ If the same files are specified with two -f options on the command line,+ the assertions in the second will not see the balances from the first.++ To work around this, arrange your files in a hierarchy with include. Or,+ you could concatenate the files temporarily, and process them like one big+ file.++ Why does it work this way ? It might be related to hledger's goal of sta-+ ble predictable reports. File hierarchy is considered "permanent", part of+ your data, while the order of command line options/arguments is not. We+ don't want transient changes to be able to change the meaning of the data.+ Eg it would be frustrating if tomorrow all your balance assertions broke+ because you wrote command line arguments in a different order. (Discussion+ welcome.)++ Assertions and costs+ Balance assertions ignore costs, and should normally be written without+ one:++ 2019/1/1+ (a) $1 @ a1 = $1++ We do allow costs to be written in balance assertion amounts, however, and+ print shows them, but 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 costs), and because balance assignments do+ use costs (see below).++ Assertions and commodities+ The balance assertions described so far are "single commodity balance as-+ sertions": they assert and check the balance in one commodity, ignoring any+ others that may be present. This is how balance assertions work in Ledger+ also.++ If an account contains multiple commodities, you can assert their balances+ by writing multiple postings with balance assertions, one for each commod-+ ity:++ 2013/1/1+ usd $-1+ eur a-1+ both++ 2013/1/2+ both 0 = $1+ both 0 = a1++ In hledger you can make a stronger "sole commodity balance assertion" by+ writing two equals signs (== EXPECTEDBALANCE). This also asserts that+ there are no other commodities in the account besides the asserted one (or+ at least, that their current balance is zero):++ 2013/1/1+ usd $-1 == $-1 ; these sole commodity assertions succeed+ eur a-1 == a-1+ both ;== $1 ; this one would fail because 'both' contains $ and a++ It's less easy to make a "sole commodities balance assertion" (note the+ plural) - ie, asserting that an account contains two or more specified com-+ modities and no others. It can be done by++ 1. isolating each commodity in a subaccount, and asserting those++ 2. and also asserting there are no commodities in the parent account it-+ self:++ 2013/1/1+ usd $-1+ eur a-1+ both 0 == 0 ; nothing up my sleeve+ both:usd $1 == $1 ; a dollar here+ both:eur a1 == a1 ; a euro there++ Assertions and subaccounts+ All of the balance assertions above (both = and ==) are "subaccount-exclu-+ sive balance assertions"; they ignore any balances that exist in deeper+ subaccounts.++ In hledger you can make "subaccount-inclusive balance assertions" by adding+ a star after the equals (=* or ==*):++ 2019/1/1+ equity:start+ assets:checking $10+ assets:savings $10+ assets $0 ==* $20 ; assets + subaccounts contains $20 and nothing else++ Assertions and status+ Balance assertions always consider postings of all statuses (unmarked,+ pending, or cleared); they are not affected by the -U/--unmarked /+ -P/--pending / -C/--cleared flags or the status: query.++ Assertions and virtual postings+ Balance assertions always consider both real and virtual postings; they are+ not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query.++ Assertions and auto postings+ Balance assertions are affected by the --auto flag, which generates auto+ postings, which can alter account balances. Because auto postings are op-+ tional in hledger, accounts affected by them effectively have two balances.+ But balance assertions can only test one or the other of these. So to+ avoid making fragile assertions, either:++ * assert the balance calculated with --auto, and always use --auto with+ that file++ * or assert the balance calculated without --auto, and never use --auto+ with that file++ * or avoid balance assertions on accounts affected by auto postings (or+ avoid auto postings entirely).++ 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.++ Assertions and hledger add+ Balance assertions can be included in the amounts given in add. All types+ of assertions are supported, and assertions can be used as in a normal+ journal file.++ All transactions, not just those that have an explicit assertion, are vali-+ dated against the existing assertions in the journal. This means it is+ possible for an added transaction to fail even if its assertions are cor-+ rect as of the transaction date.++ If this assertion checking is not desired, then it can be disabled with -I.++ However, balance assignments are currently not supported.++ Posting comments+ Text following ;, at the end of a posting line, and/or on indented lines+ immediately below it, form comments for that posting. They are reproduced+ by print but otherwise ignored, except they may contain tags, which are not+ ignored.++ 2012-01-01+ expenses 1 ; a comment for posting 1+ assets+ ; a comment for posting 2+ ; a second comment line for posting 2++ Transaction balancing+ How exactly does hledger decide when a transaction is balanced ? Espe-+ cially when it involves costs, which often are not exact, because of re-+ peating decimals, or imperfect data from financial institutions ? In each+ commodity, hledger sums the transaction's posting amounts, after converting+ any with costs; then it checks if that sum is zero, when rounded to a suit-+ able number of decimal digits - which we call the balancing precision.++ Since version 1.50, hledger infers balancing precision in each transaction+ from the amounts in that transaction's journal entry (like Ledger). Ie,+ when checking the balance of commodity A, it uses the highest decimal pre-+ cision seen for A in the journal entry (excluding cost amounts). This+ makes transaction balancing robust; any imbalances must be visibly ac-+ counted for in the journal entry, display precision can be freely increased+ with -c, and compatibility with Ledger and Beancount journals is good.++ Note that hledger versions before 1.50 worked differently: they allowed+ display precision to override the balancing precision. This masked small+ imbalances and caused fragility (see issue #2402). As a result, some jour-+ nal entries (or CSV rules) that worked with hledger <1.50, are now rejected+ with an "unbalanced transaction" error. If you hit this problem, it's easy+ to fix:++ * You can restore the old behaviour, by adding --txn-balancing=old to the+ command or to your ~/.hledger.conf file. This lets you keep using old+ journals unchanged, though without the above benefits.++ * Or you can fix the problem entries (recommended). There are three ways,+ use whichever seems best:++ 1. make cost amounts more precise (add more/better decimal digits)++ 2. or make non-cost amounts less precise (remove unnecessary decimal dig-+ its that are raising the precision)++ 3. or add a posting to absorb the imbalance (eg "expenses:rounding". Re-+ member that one posting may omit the amount; that's convenient here.)++ Tags+ Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions, post-+ ings, or accounts, which you can match with a tag: query in reports. (See+ queries below.)++ Tags are a single word or hyphenated word, immediately followed by a full+ colon, written within a comment. (Yes, storing data in comments is+ slightly weird.) Here's a transaction with a tag:++ 2025-01-01 groceries ; some-tag:+ assets:checking+ expenses:food $1++ A tag can have a value, a single line of text written after the colon. Tag+ values can't contain newlines.:++ 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1: this is tag1's value++ Multiple tags can be separated by comma. Tag values can't contain commas.:++ 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag2:value 2, comment text++ A tag can have multiple values:++ 2025-01-01 groceries ; tag1:value 1, tag1:value 2++ You can write each tag on its own line of you prefer (but they still can't+ contain commas):++ 2025-01-01 groceries+ ; tag1: value 1+ ; tag2: value 2++ Tags can be attached to individual postings, rather than the overall trans-+ action:++ 2025-01-01 rent+ assets:checking+ expenses:rent $1000 ; postingtag:++ Tags can be attached to accounts, in their account directive:++ account assets:checking ; acct-number: 123-45-6789++ Tag propagation+ In addition to what they are attached to, tags also affect related data in+ a few ways, allowing more powerful queries:++ 1. Accounts -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their account.++ 2. Transactions -> postings. Postings inherit tags from their transaction.++ 3. Postings -> transactions. Transactions also acquire the tags of their+ postings.++ So when you use a tag: query to match whole transactions, individual post-+ ings, or accounts, it's good to understand how tags behave. Here's an ex-+ ample showing all three kinds of propagation:++ account assets:checking+ account expenses:food ; atag:++ 2025-01-01 groceries ; ttag:+ assets:checking ; p1tag:+ expenses:food $1 ; p2tag:++ data part has tags explanation+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ assets:check- no tags attached+ ing account+ expenses:food atag atag: in comment+ account+ assets:check- p1tag, ttag p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from+ ing posting transaction+ expenses:food p2tag, atag, p2tag: in comment, atag from account, ttag+ posting ttag from transaction+ groceries ttag, p1tag, ttag: in comment, p1tag from first posting,+ transaction p2tag, atag p2tag and atag from second posting++ Displaying tags+ You can use the tags command to list tag names or values.++ The print command also shows tags.++ You can use --pivot to display tag values in other reports, in various ways+ (eg appended to account names, like pseudo subaccounts).++ When to use tags ?+ Tags provide more dimensions of categorisation, complementing accounts and+ transaction descriptions. When to use each of these is somewhat a matter+ of taste. Accounts have the most built-in support, and regex queries on+ descriptions are also quite powerful. So you may not need tags at all.+ But if you want to track multiple cross-cutting categories, they can be a+ good fit. For example, you could tag trip-related transactions with trip:+ YEAR:PLACE, without disturbing your usual account categories.++ Tag names+ What is allowed in a tag name ? Most non-whitespace characters. Eg : is a+ valid tag.++ For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the tag di-+ rective, and then enforce these with the check command. But note that tags+ are detected quite loosely at present, sometimes where you didn't intend+ them. Eg a comment like ; see https://foo.com adds a https tag.++ There are several tag names which have special significance to hledger.+ They are explained elsewhere, but here's a quick reference:++ type -- declares an account's type+ date -- overrides a posting's date+ date2 -- overrides a posting's secondary date+ assert -- appears on txns generated by close --assert+ retain -- appears on txns generated by close --retain+ start -- appears on txns generated by close --migrate/--close/--open/--assign+ t -- appears on postings generated from timedot letters++ generated-transaction -- appears on txns generated by a periodic rule+ modified-transaction -- appears on txns which have had auto postings added+ generated-posting -- appears on generated postings+ cost-posting -- appears on postings which have (or could have) a cost,+ and which have equivalent conversion postings in the transaction+ conversion-posting -- appears on postings which are to a V/Conversion account+ and which have an equivalent cost posting in the transaction++ The second group above (generated-transaction, etc.) are normally hidden,+ with a _ prefix added. This means print doesn't show them by default; but+ you can still use them in queries. You can add the --verbose-tags flag to+ make them visible in print output, which can be useful for troubleshooting.++ Directives+ Besides transactions, there is something else you can put in a journal+ file: directives. These are declarations, beginning with a keyword, that+ modify hledger's behaviour. Some directives can have more specific subdi-+ rectives, indented below them. hledger's directives are similar to+ Ledger's in many cases, but there are also many differences. Directives+ are not required, but can be useful. Here are the main directives:++ purpose directive+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------+ READING DATA:+ Rewrite account names alias+ Comment out sections of the file comment+ Declare file's decimal mark, to help decimal-mark+ parse amounts accurately+ Include other data files include+ GENERATING DATA:+ Generate recurring transactions or bud- ~+ get goals+ Generate extra postings on existing =+ transactions+ CHECKING FOR ERRORS:+ Define valid entities to provide more account, commodity, payee, tag+ error checking+ REPORTING:+ Declare accounts' type and display order account+ Declare commodity display styles commodity+ Declare market prices P++ Directives and multiple files+ Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which input+ files they affect. Most often, a directive will affect the following en-+ tries and included files if any, until the end of the current file - and no+ further. You might find this inconvenient! For example, alias directives+ do not affect parent or sibling files. But there are usually workarounds;+ for example, put alias directives in your top-most file, before including+ other files.++ The restriction, though it may be annoying at first, is in a good cause; it+ allows reports to be stable and deterministic, independent of the order of+ input. Without it, reports could show different numbers depending on the+ order of -f options, or the positions of include directives in your files.++ Directive effects+ Here are all hledger's directives, with their effects and scope summarised+ - nine main directives, plus four others which we consider non-essential:++ di- what it does ends+ rec- at+ tive file+ end?+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ac- Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; and N+ count its display order and type. Subdirectives: any text, ignored.+ alias Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of cur- Y+ rent file or end aliases. Command line equivalent: --alias+ com- Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file or Y+ ment end comment.+ com- Declares up to four things: 1. a commodity symbol, for checking N,N,Y,Y+ mod- all amounts in all files 2. the display style for all amounts+ ity of this commodity 3. the decimal mark for parsing amounts of+ this commodity, in the rest of this file and its children, if+ there is no decimal-mark directive 4. the precision to use for+ balanced-transaction checking in this commodity, in this file+ and its children. Takes precedence over D. Subdirectives:+ format (ignored). Command line equivalent: -c/--commodity-style+ deci- Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodi- Y+ mal-mark ties in following entries until next decimal-mark or end of cur-+ rent file. Included files can override. Takes precedence over+ commodity and D.+ include Includes entries and directives from another file, as if they N+ were written inline. Command line alternative: multiple+ -f/--file+ payee Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files. N+ P Declares the market price of a commodity on some date, for value N+ reports.+ ~ Declares a periodic transaction rule that generates future N+ (tilde) transactions with --forecast and budget goals with balance+ --budget.+ Other+ syntax:+ apply Prepends a common parent account to all account names, in fol- Y+ account lowing entries until end of current file or end apply account.+ D Sets a default commodity to use for no-symbol amounts;and, if Y,Y,N,N+ there is no commodity directive for this commodity: its decimal+ mark, balancing precision, and display style, as above.+ Y Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in following Y+ entries until end of current file.+ = 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).+ Other Other directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but ig-+ Ledger nored.+ direc-+ tives++ account directive+ account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that+ amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these declara-+ tions can provide several benefits:++ * They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a reference.++ * They can store additional account information as comments, or as tags+ which can be used to filter or pivot reports.++ * They can restrict which accounts may be posted to by transactions, eg in+ strict mode, which helps prevent errors.++ * They influence account display order in reports, allowing non-alphabetic+ sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).++ * They can help hledger know your accounts' types (asset, liability, eq-+ uity, revenue, expense), enabling reports like balancesheet and incomes-+ tatement.++ * They help with account name completion (in hledger add, hledger-web,+ hledger-iadd, ledger-mode, etc.)++ They are written as the word account followed by a hledger-style account+ name. Eg:++ account assets:bank:checking++ Ledger-style indented subdirectives are also accepted, but ignored:++ account assets:bank:checking+ format subdirective ; currently ignored++ Account comments+ Text following two or more spaces and ; at the end of an account directive+ line, and/or following ; on indented lines immediately below it, form com-+ ments for that account.++ Same-line account comments require two+ spaces before ; because that char-+ acter can appear in account names.++ account assets:bank:checking ; same-line comment, at least 2 spaces before the semicolon+ ; next-line comment+ ; some tags - type:A, acctnum:12345++ Account tags+ An account directive's comment may contain tags. These will be propagated+ to all postings using that account, as hidden but queryable posting tags,+ except where the posting already a tag of the same name. (Posting tags+ override account tags.)++ Account error checking+ By default, accounts need not be declared; they come into existence when a+ posting references them. 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 that 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, or when you run hledger+ check accounts, hledger will report an error if any transaction uses an ac-+ count name that has not been declared by an account directive. Some notes:++ * The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct ac-+ count 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 of all types.++ * It's currently not possible to declare "all possible subaccounts" with a+ wildcard; every account posted to must be declared.++ * If you use the --infer-equity flag, you will also need declarations for+ the account names it generates.++ Account display order+ Account directives also cause hledger to display accounts in a particular+ order, not just alphabetically. Eg, here is a conventional ordering for+ the top-level accounts:++ account assets+ account liabilities+ account equity+ account revenues+ account expenses++ Now hledger displays them in that order:++ $ hledger accounts+ assets+ liabilities+ equity+ revenues+ expenses++ If there are undeclared accounts, those will be displayed last, in alpha-+ betical order.++ Sorting is done within each group of sibling accounts, at each level of the+ account tree. Eg, a declaration like account parent:child influences+ child's position among its siblings.++ Note, it does not affect parent's position; for that, you need an account+ parent declaration.++ Sibling accounts are always displayed together; hledger won't display x:y+ in between a:b and a:c.++ An account directive both declares an account as a valid posting target,+ and declares its display order; you can't easily do one without the other.++ Account types+ hledger knows that in accounting there are three main account types:++ Asset A things you own+ Liability L things you owe+ Equity E owner's investment,+ balances the two+ above++ and two more representing changes in these:++ Revenue R inflows (also known+ as Income)+ Expense X outflows++ hledger also uses a few subtypes:++ Cash C liquid assets (subtype+ of Asset)+ Conversion V commodity conversions+ equity (subtype of Eq-+ uity)+ Gain G capital gains/losses+ (subtype of Revenue)+ UnrealisedGain U accumulated unrealised+ capital gains/losses+ (subtype of Equity)++ As a convenience, hledger will detect most of these types automatically+ from english account names. (All except Gain and UnrealisedGain, which+ must be declared explicitly.) But it's better to declare them explicitly+ by adding a type: tag in the account directives. The tag's value can be+ any of the types or one-letter abbreviations above.++ hledger 1 does nothing special with Gain and UnrealisedGain accounts; they+ are supported mainly so that journals written for hledger 2 (which uses+ them for lot/gain tracking) can be read without errors.++ Here is a typical set of account type declarations. Subaccounts will in-+ herit their parent's type, or can override it:++ account assets ; type: A+ account liabilities ; type: L+ account equity ; type: E+ account revenues ; type: R+ account expenses ; type: X++ account assets:bank ; type: C+ account assets:cash ; type: C++ account equity:conversion ; type: V++ account revenues:gains ; type: G++ This enables the easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and in-+ comestatement reports, and querying by type:.++ Tips:++ * You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting:++ $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] [--locations]++ * It's a good idea to declare at least one account for each account type.+ Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt certain reports.++ * The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows (using+ Regular expressions).+ If they don't work for you, just ignore them and declare your types with+ type: tags.++ If account's name contains this case insensitive regular expression | its type is+ --------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------+ ^assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|current)(:|$) | Cash+ ^assets?(:|$) | Asset+ ^(debts?|liabilit(y|ies))(:|$) | Liability+ ^equity:(trad(e|ing)|conversion)s?(:|$) | Conversion+ ^equity(:|$) | Equity+ ^(income|revenue)s?(:|$) | Revenue+ ^expenses?(:|$) | Expense++ * As mentioned above, subaccounts will inherit a type from their parent ac-+ count. To be precise, an account's type is decided by the first of these+ that exists:++ 1. A type: declaration for this account.++ 2. A type: declaration in the parent accounts above it, preferring the+ nearest.++ 3. An account type inferred from this account's name.++ 4. An account type inferred from a parent account's name, preferring the+ nearest parent.++ 5. Otherwise, it will have no type.++ * Account aliases can disrupt account types.++ alias directive+ 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++ * combining two accounts into one, eg to see their sum or difference on one+ line++ * 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.++ Account aliases are very powerful. They are generally easy to use cor-+ rectly, but you can also generate invalid account names with them; more on+ this below.++ 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 in-+ cluded 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 af-+ fects 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"++ Regex aliases+ There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression, indi-+ cated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes. (This is the only place+ where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular expression.)++ Eg:++ alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT++ or:++ $ hledger --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' ...++ Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by REPLACE-+ MENT. REGEX is case-insensitive as usual.++ If you need to match a forward slash, escape it with a backslash, eg /\/=:.++ If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be referenced by+ the usual backslash and number in REPLACEMENT:++ alias /^(.+):bank:([^:]+):(.*)/ = \1:\2 \3+ ; rewrites "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking" to "assets:wells fargo checking"++ REPLACEMENT continues to the end of line (or on command line, to end of op-+ tion argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace.++ Combining aliases+ You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives and/or+ command line options.++ Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias, then+ by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the effect of+ previously applied aliases.++ In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be ap-+ plied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal entry,+ we apply:++ 1. alias directives preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed first+ (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top)++ 2. --alias options, in the order they appeared on the command line (left to+ right).++ In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:++ * the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first++ * the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on++ * aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.++ This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps provide+ semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way independent of+ which files are being read and in which order.++ In case of trouble, adding --debug=6 to the command line will show which+ aliases are being applied when.++ Aliases and multiple files+ As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do not af-+ fect 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++ 2023-01-01 ; 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++ 2023-01-01 ; affected by aliases above+ foo 1+ bar++ include c.journal ; also affected++ end aliases directive+ 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++ Aliases can generate bad account names+ Be aware that account aliases can produce malformed account names, which+ could cause confusing reports or invalid print output. For example, you+ could erase all account names:++ 2021-01-01+ a:aa 1+ b++ $ hledger print --alias '/.*/='+ 2021-01-01+ 1++ The above print output is not a valid journal. Or you could insert an il-+ legal double space, causing print output that would give a different jour-+ nal when reparsed:++ 2021-01-01+ old 1+ other++ $ hledger print --alias old="new USD" | hledger -f- print+ 2021-01-01+ new USD 1+ other++ Aliases and account types+ If an account with a type declaration (see Declaring accounts > Account+ types) is renamed by an alias, normally the account type remains in effect.++ However, renaming in a way that reshapes the account tree (eg renaming par-+ ent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could prevent child ac-+ counts from inheriting the account type of their parents.++ Secondly, if an account's type is being inferred from its name, renaming it+ by an alias could prevent or alter that.++ If you are using account aliases and the type: query is not matching ac-+ counts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts command, eg+ something like:++ $ hledger accounts --types -1 --alias assets=bassetts++ commodity directive+ The commodity directive performs several functions:++ 1. It declares which commodity symbols may be used in the journal, enabling+ useful error checking with strict mode or the check command. See Com-+ modity error checking below.++ 2. It declares how all amounts in this commodity should be displayed, eg+ how many decimals to show. See Commodity display style above.++ 3. (If no decimal-mark directive is in effect:) It sets the decimal mark to+ expect (period or comma) when parsing amounts in this commodity, in this+ file and files it includes, from the directive until end of current+ file. See Decimal marks above.++ 4. It declares the precision with which this commodity's amounts should be+ compared when checking for balanced transactions, anywhere in this file+ and files it includes, until end of current file.++ Declaring commodities solves several common parsing/display problems, so we+ recommend it.++ Note that effects 3 and 4 above end at the end of the directive's file, and+ will not affect sibling or parent files. So if you are relying on them+ (especially 4) and using multiple files, placing your commodity directives+ in a top-level parent file might be important. Or, keep your decimal marks+ unambiguous and your entries well balanced and precise.++ Omitting the commodity symbol will set the display style for just the+ no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.++ Commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style command line+ option.++ (Related: #793)++ Commodity directive syntax+ A commodity directive is normally the word commodity followed by a sample+ amount, and optionally a comment. Only the amount's symbol and the num-+ ber's format is significant. Eg:++ commodity $1000.00+ commodity 1.000,00 EUR+ commodity 1 000 000.0000 ; the no-symbol commodity++ A commodity directive's sample amount must always include a period or comma+ decimal mark (this rule helps disambiguate decimal marks and digit group+ marks). If you don't want to show any decimal digits, write the decimal+ mark at the end:++ commodity 1000. AAAA ; show AAAA with no decimals++ Commodity symbols containing spaces, numbers, or punctuation must be en-+ closed in double quotes, as usual:++ commodity 1.0000 "AAAA 2023"++ Commodity directives normally include a sample amount, but can declare only+ a symbol (ie, just function 1 above):++ commodity $+ commodity INR+ commodity "AAAA 2023"+ commodity "" ; the no-symbol commodity++ Commodity directives may also be written with an indented format subdirec-+ tive, as in Ledger. The symbol is repeated and must be the same in both+ places. Other subdirectives are currently ignored:++ ; 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+ an unsupported subdirective ; ignored by hledger++ Commodity tags+ A commodity directive's comment may contain tags. These will be propagated+ to all postings using that commodity in their main amount, as hidden but+ queryable posting tags, except where the posting already a tag of the same+ name. (Posting tags override account tags override commodity tags.)++ Commodity error checking+ In strict mode (-s/--strict) (or when you run hledger check commodities),+ hledger will report an error if an undeclared commodity symbol is used.+ (With one exception: zero amounts are always allowed to have no commodity+ symbol.) It works like account error checking (described above).++ decimal-mark directive+ 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 pars-+ ing 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 recom-+ mend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg thousands+ separators).++ include directive+ You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include di-+ rective, like this:++ include SOMEFILE++ This has the same effect as if SOMEFILE's content was inlined at this+ point. (With any include directives in SOMEFILE processed similarly, re-+ cursively.)++ Only journal files can include other files. They can include journal,+ timeclock or timedot files, but not CSV files.++ If the file path begins with a tilde, that means your home directory: in-+ clude ~/main.journal.++ If it begins with a slash, it is an absolute path: include+ /home/user/main.journal. Otherwise it is relative to the including file's+ folder: include ../finances/main.journal.++ Also, the path may have a file type prefix to force a specific file format,+ overriding the file extension(s) (as described in Data formats): include+ timedot:notes/2023.md.++ The path may contain glob patterns to match multiple files. hledger's+ globs are similar to zsh's: ? to match any character; [a-z] to match any+ character in a range; * to match zero or more characters that aren't a path+ separator (like /); ** to match zero or more subdirectories and/or zero or+ more characters at the start of a file name; etc. For convenience, include+ always excludes the current file. So, you can do++ * include *.journal to include all other journal files in the current di-+ rectory (excluding dot files)++ * include **.journal to include all other journal files in this directory+ and below (excluding dot files and top-level dot directories)++ * include timelogs/2???.timedot to include all timedot files named like a+ year number.++ Note * and ** usually won't match dot files or dot directories, with one+ exception: ** does search non-top-level dot directories. If this causes+ problems, make your glob pattern more specific (eg **.journal instead of+ **).++ If you are using many, or deeply nested, include files, and have an error+ that's hard to pinpoint: a good troubleshooting command is hledger files+ --debug=6 (or 7).++ P directive+ The P directive declares a market price, which is a conversion rate between+ two commodities on a certain date. This allows value reports to convert+ amounts of one commodity to their value in another, on or after that date.+ These prices are often obtained from a stock exchange, cryptocurrency ex-+ change, or the foreign exchange market.++ The format is:++ P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT++ DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the commodity be-+ ing 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 a $1.35++ # and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward:+ P 2010-01-01 a $1.40++ The -V, -X and --value flags use these market prices to show amount values+ in another commodity. See Value reporting.++ payee directive+ payee PAYEE NAME++ This directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees which may ap-+ pear 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 ; a comment++ Payees do not have tags (tags in the comment will be ignored).++ To declare the empty payee name, use "".++ payee ""++ Ledger-style indented subdirectives, if any, are currently ignored.++ tag directive+ tag TAGNAME++ This directive can be used to declare a limited set of tag names allowed in+ tags. TAGNAME should be a valid tag name (no spaces). Eg:++ tag item-id++ Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored.++ The "tags" check will report an error if any undeclared tag name is used.+ It is quite easy to accidentally create a tag through normal use of colons+ in comments; if you want to prevent this, you can declare and check your+ tags .++ Periodic transactions+ The ~ directive declares a "periodic rule" which generates temporary extra+ transactions, usually recurring at some interval, when hledger is run with+ the --forecast flag. These "forecast transactions" are useful for fore-+ casting future activity. They exist only for the duration of the report,+ and only when --forecast is used; they are not saved in the journal file by+ hledger.++ Periodic rules also have a second use: with the --budget flag they set bud-+ get goals for budgeting.++ Periodic rules can be a little tricky, so before you use them, read this+ whole section, or at least the following 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 improve-+ ment, but is worth studying.++ 6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a nat-+ ural 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 re-+ ports, but it also affects periodic transactions. Yes, it's a bit in-+ consistent with the above.) Eg: ~ every 10th day of month from+ 2023/01, which is equivalent to ~ every 10th day of month from+ 2023/01/01, will be adjusted to start on 2019/12/10.++ Periodic rule syntax+ A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the+ date replaced by a tilde (~) followed by a period expression (mnemonic: ~+ looks like a recurring sine wave.):++ # every first of month+ ~ monthly+ expenses:rent $2000+ assets:bank:checking++ # every 15th of month in 2023's first quarter:+ ~ monthly from 2023-04-15 to 2023-06-16+ expenses:utilities $400+ assets:bank:checking++ The period expression is the same syntax used for specifying multi-period+ reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies report periods;+ here it specifies recurrence dates (the periods' start dates).++ Periodic rules and relative dates+ Partial or relative dates (like 12/31, 25, tomorrow, last week, next quar-+ ter) are usually not recommended in periodic rules, since the results will+ change as time passes. If used, they will be interpreted relative to, in+ order of preference:++ 1. the first day of the default year specified by a recent Y directive++ 2. or the date specified with --today++ 3. or the date on which you are running the report.++ They will not be affected at all by report period or forecast period dates.++ 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 2023"+ ; ||+ ; vv+ ~ every 2 months in 2023, 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 expres-+ sion.++ Auto postings+ The = directive declares an "auto posting rule", which adds extra postings+ to existing transactions. (Remember, postings are the account name &+ amount lines below a transaction's date & description.)++ In the journal, an auto posting rule looks quite like a transaction, but+ instead of date and description it has = (mnemonic: "match") and a query,+ like this:++ = QUERY+ ACCOUNT AMOUNT+ ...++ Queries are just like command line queries; an account name substring is+ most common. Query terms containing spaces should be enclosed in single or+ double quotes.++ Each = rule works like this: when hledger is run with the --auto flag,+ wherever the QUERY matches a posting in the journal, the rule's postings+ are added to that transaction, immediately below the matched posting. Note+ these generated postings are temporary, existing only for the duration of+ the report, and only when --auto is used; they are not saved in the journal+ file by hledger.++ The postings can contain the special string %account which will be expanded+ to the account name of the matched account.++ Generated postings' amounts can depend on the matched posting's amount. So+ auto postings can be useful for, eg, adding tax postings with a standard+ percentage. AMOUNT can be:++ * a number with no commodity symbol, like 2. The matched posting's commod-+ ity symbol will be added to this.++ * a normal amount with a commodity symbol, like $2. This will be used+ as-is.++ * an asterisk followed by a number, like *2. This will multiply the+ matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) by the number.++ * an asterisk followed by an amount with commodity symbol, like *$2. This+ multiplies and also replaces the commodity symbol with this new one.++ 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++ Note that depending fully on generated data such as this has some drawbacks+ - it's less portable, less future-proof, less auditable by others, and less+ robust (eg your balance assertions will depend on whether you use or don't+ use --auto). An alternative is to use auto postings in "one time" fashion+ - use them to help build a complex journal entry, view it with hledger+ print --auto, and then copy that output into the journal file to make it+ permanent.++ 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:++ * after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked for bal-+ ancedness,++ * 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 back-+ ground.++ 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 in-+ fer amounts.++ 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".++ Auto postings on forecast transactions only+ Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast transac-+ tions but not recorded transactions, by adding tag:_generated-transaction+ to their QUERY. This can be useful when generating new journal entries to+ be saved in the journal.++ Other syntax+ hledger journal format supports quite a few other features, mainly to make+ interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier. Note some of the+ features below are powerful and can be useful in special cases, but in gen-+ eral, features in this section are considered less important or even not+ recommended for most users. Downsides are mentioned to help you decide if+ you want to use them.++ Balance assignments+ Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like bal-+ ance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the equals+ sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the asser-+ tion. 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).++ Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less explicit; to+ know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the calcula-+ tions yourself, instead of just reading it. Also balance assignments'+ forcing of balances can hide errors. These things make your financial data+ less portable, less future-proof, and less trustworthy in an audit.++ Balance assignments and costs+ A cost in a balance assignment will cause the calculated amount to have+ that cost attached:++ 2019/1/1+ (a) = $1 @ a2++ $ hledger print --explicit+ 2019-01-01+ (a) $1 @ a2 = $1 @ a2++ Balance assignments and multiple files+ Balance assignments handle multiple files like balance assertions. They+ see balance from other files previously included from the current file, but+ not from previous sibling or parent files.++ Bracketed posting dates+ For setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger's bracketed+ date syntax is also supported: [DATE], [DATE=DATE2] or [=DATE2] in posting+ comments. 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.++ Downsides: another syntax to learn, redundant with hledger's date:/date2:+ tags, and confusingly similar to Ledger's lot date syntax.++ D directive+ D AMOUNT++ This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any subsequent com-+ modityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the journal.+ This effect lasts until the next D directive, or the end of the current+ file.++ For compatibility/historical reasons, D also acts like a commodity direc-+ tive (setting the commodity's decimal mark for parsing and display style+ for output). So its argument is not just a commodity symbol, but a full+ amount demonstrating the style. The amount must include a decimal mark+ (either period or comma). Eg:++ ; 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++ Interactions with other directives:++ For setting a commodity's display style, a commodity directive has highest+ priority, then a D directive.++ For detecting a commodity's decimal mark during parsing, decimal-mark has+ highest priority, then commodity, then D.++ For checking commodity symbols with the check command, a commodity direc-+ tive is required (hledger check commodities ignores D directives).++ Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less ex-+ plicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. It is usually an+ unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to track multiple+ commodities. D is overloaded with functions redundant with commodity and+ decimal-mark. And it works differently from Ledger's D.++ apply account directive+ This directive sets a default parent account, which will be prepended to+ all accounts in following entries, until an end apply account directive or+ end of current file. Eg:++ apply account home++ 2010/1/1+ food $10+ cash++ end apply account++ is equivalent to:++ 2010/01/01+ home:food $10+ home:cash $-10++ account directives are also affected, and so is any included content.++ Account names entered via hledger add or hledger-web are not affected.++ Account aliases, if any, are applied after the parent account is prepended.++ Downsides: this can make your financial data less explicit, less portable,+ and less trustworthy in an audit.++ Y directive+ Y YEAR++ or (deprecated backward-compatible forms):++ year YEAR apply year YEAR++ The space is optional. This sets a default year to be used for subsequent+ dates which don't specify a year. Eg:++ Y2009 ; set default year to 2009++ 12/15 ; equivalent to 2009/12/15+ expenses 1+ assets++ year 2010 ; change default year to 2010++ 2009/1/30 ; specifies the year, not affected+ expenses 1+ assets++ 1/31 ; equivalent to 2010/1/31+ expenses 1+ assets++ Downsides: omitting the year (from primary transaction dates, at least)+ makes your financial data less explicit, less portable, and less trustwor-+ thy in an audit. Such dates can get separated from their corresponding Y+ directive, eg when evaluating a region of the journal in your editor. A+ missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today's date.++ Secondary dates+ A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals+ sign: DATE1=DATE2. If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is as-+ sumed. When running reports, the primary (left side) date is used by de-+ fault, but with the --date2 flag (--aux-date or--effective also work, for+ Ledger users), the secondary (right side) date will be used instead.++ The meaning of secondary dates is up to you. Eg it could be "primary is+ the bank's clearing date, secondary is the date the transaction was initi-+ ated, if different".++ In practice, this feature usually adds confusion:++ * You have to remember the primary and secondary dates' meaning, and follow+ that consistently.++ * It splits your bookkeeping into two modes, and you have to remember which+ mode is appropriate for a given report.++ * Usually your balance assertions will work with only one of these modes.++ * It makes your financial data more complicated, less portable, and less+ clear in an audit.++ * It interacts with every feature, creating an ongoing cost for implemen-+ tors.++ * It distracts new users and supporters.++ * Posting dates are simpler and work better.++ So secondary dates are officially deprecated in hledger, remaining only as+ a Ledger compatibility aid; we recommend using posting dates instead.++ Star comments+ Lines beginning with * (star/asterisk) are also comment lines. This fea-+ ture allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal, allowing+ them to fold/unfold/navigate it like an outline when viewed with org mode.++ Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn. Decreases your+ journal's portability. And switching to Emacs org mode just for fold-+ ing/unfolding meant losing the benefits of ledger mode; nowadays you can+ add outshine mode to ledger mode to get folding without losing ledger+ mode's features.++ Valuation expressions+ Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double paren-+ theses after an amount. hledger ignores these.++ Virtual postings+ A posting with parentheses around the account name, like (some:account)+ 10, is called an unbalanced virtual posting. These postings do not partic-+ ipate in transaction balancing. (And if you write them without an amount,+ a zero amount is always inferred.) These can occasionally be convenient+ for special circumstances, but they violate double entry bookkeeping and+ make your data less portable across applications, so many people avoid us-+ ing them at all.++ A posting with brackets around the account name ([some:account]) is called+ a balanced virtual posting. The balanced virtual postings in a transaction+ must add up to zero, just like ordinary postings, but separately from them.+ These are not part of double entry bookkeeping either, but they are at+ least balanced. An example:++ 2022-01-01 buy food with cash, update budget envelope subaccounts, & something else+ assets:cash $-10 ; <- these balance each other+ expenses:food $7 ; <-+ expenses:food $3 ; <-+ [assets:checking:budget:food] $-10 ; <- and these balance each other+ [assets:checking:available] $10 ; <-+ (something:else) $5 ; <- this is not required to balance++ Ordinary postings, whose account names are neither parenthesised nor brack-+ eted, are called real postings. You can exclude virtual postings from re-+ ports with the -R/--real flag or a real:1 query.++ Other Ledger directives+ These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored. This al-+ lows hledger to read more Ledger files, but be aware that hledger's reports+ may differ from Ledger's if you use these.++ apply fixed COMM AMT+ apply tag TAG+ assert EXPR+ bucket / A ACCT+ capture ACCT REGEX+ check EXPR+ define VAR=EXPR+ end apply fixed+ end apply tag+ end apply year+ end tag+ eval / expr EXPR+ python+ PYTHONCODE+ tag NAME+ value EXPR+ --command-line-flags++ See also https://hledger.org/ledger.html for a detailed hledger/Ledger syn-+ tax comparison.++ Ledger virtual costs+ In Ledger, (@) UNITCOST and (@@) TOTALCOST are virtual costs, which do not+ generate market prices. In hledger, these are equivalent to @ and @@.++ Ledger lot syntax+ In Ledger, these optional annotations after an amount help specify the cost+ basis of a newly acquired lot, or select existing lot(s) to dispose of:++ * {LOTUNITCOST} and {{LOTTOTALCOST}} (lot price)++ * [LOTDATE] (lot date)++ * (LOTNOTE) (lot note)++ hledger does not yet calculate lots itself, but it accepts these annota-+ tions and will show them in print's txt, beancount, and json output for-+ mats. This means you can use this syntax in your hledger journals (with an+ amountless extra posting to help transactions balance, when needed), and+ use the print command to export to Ledger or Beancount when you want to+ calculate lots and capital gains.++ Ledger fixed lot costs+ * {=UNITCOST} and {{=TOTALCOST}} (fixed price)++ * when buying, means "this cost is also the fixed value, don't let it+ fluctuate in value reports"++ Probably equivalent to @/@@, I'm not sure.++ Beancount has simpler notation and different behaviour:++ * @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST++ * expresses a cost without creating a lot, as in hledger++ * when buying (acquiring) or selling (disposing of) a lot, and combined+ with {...}: is not used except to document the cost/selling price++ * {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}}++ * when buying, expresses the cost for transaction balancing, and also+ creates a lot with this cost basis attached++ * when selling,++ * selects a lot by its cost basis++ * raises an error if that lot is not present or can not be selected un-+ ambiguously (depending on booking method configured)++ * expresses the selling price for transaction balancing++ * {}, {YYYY-MM-DD}, {"LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, "LABEL"}, {UNITCOST, YYYY-MM-DD,+ "LABEL"}++ * when selling, other combinations of date/cost/label, like the above,+ are accepted for selecting the lot.++ Currently, hledger++ * supports @ and @@++ * accepts the {UNITCOST}/{{TOTALCOST}} notation, but ignores it++ * and rejects the rest.++CSV+ hledger can read transactions from CSV (comma-separated values) files.+ More precisely, it can read DSV (delimiter-separated values), from a file+ or standard input. Comma-separated, semicolon-separated and tab-separated+ are the most common variants, and hledger will recognise these three auto-+ matically based on a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file name extension or a csv:, ssv:+ or tsv: file path prefix.++ (To learn about producing CSV or TSV output, see Output format.)++ Each CSV file must be described by a corresponding rules file. This con-+ tains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout, date for-+ mat etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and how to cate-+ gorise transactions based on description or other attributes.++ By default, hledger expects this rules file to be named like the CSV file,+ with an extra .rules extension added, in the same directory. Eg when asked+ to read foo/FILE.csv, hledger looks for foo/FILE.csv.rules. You can spec-+ ify a different rules file with the --rules option.++ 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++ There's an introductory Tutorial: Import CSV data on hledger.org, and more+ CSV rules examples below, and a larger collection at https://github.com/si-+ monmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv.++ CSV rules cheatsheet+ The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order.+ (Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; or * are ignored.)++ source optionally declare which file to read data+ from+ archive optionally enable an archive of imported files+ encoding optionally declare which text encoding the+ data has+ separator declare the field separator, instead of rely-+ ing on file extension+ decimal-mark declare the decimal mark used in CSV amounts,+ when ambiguous+ date-format declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times+ timezone declare the time zone of ambiguous CSV+ date-times+ newest-first improve txn order when: there are multiple+ records, newest first, all with the same date+ intra-day-reversed improve txn order when: same-day txns are in+ opposite order to the overall file+ skip (at top level) skip header line(s) at start of+ file+ fields list name CSV fields for easy reference, and op-+ tionally assign their values to hledger fields+ Field assignment assign a CSV value or interpolated text value+ to a hledger field+ if block conditionally assign values to hledger fields,+ or skip a record or end (skip rest of file)+ if table conditionally assign values to hledger fields,+ using compact syntax+ skip (inside an if rule) skip current record(s)+ end (inside an if rule) skip all remaining records+ balance-type select which type of balance assertions/as-+ signments to generate+ include inline another CSV rules file++ Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are eval-+ uated.++ source+ If you tell hledger to read a csv file with -f foo.csv, it will look for+ rules in foo.csv.rules. Or, you can tell it to read the rules file, with+ -f foo.csv.rules, and it will look for data in foo.csv (since 1.30). These+ are mostly equivalent, but the second method provides some extra features.+ For one, the data file can be missing, without causing an error; it is just+ considered empty.++ For more flexibility, add a source rule, which lets you specify a different+ data file:++ source ./Checking1.csv++ If the file does not exist, it is just considered empty, without raising an+ error.++ If you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it in+ the ~/Downloads folder:++ source Checking1.csv++ You can use a glob pattern, to avoid specifying the file name exactly:++ source Checking1*.csv++ This has another benefit: if the pattern matches multiple files, hledger+ will read the newest (most recently modified) one. This avoids problems if+ you have downloaded a file multiple times without cleaning up.++ All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download CSV+ files, then run hledger import rules/*.++ See also "Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule".++ Data cleaning / data generating commands+ After source's file pattern, you can write | (pipe) and a data cleaning+ command (or command pipeline). If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough, you+ can pre-process the downloaded data here with a shell command or script, to+ make it more suitable for conversion. The command will be executed by your+ default shell, in the directory of the rules file, will receive the data+ file's content as standard input, and should output zero or more lines of+ character-separated-values, suitable for conversion by the CSV rules.++ Examples:++ source ./paypal.json | paypalcsv+ source data/simplefin.json | simplefincsv - 'chase.*card'+ source OfxDownload*.csv | grep -vE '^(([^,]*,){6}[^,]*|)$' | sort -t, -n +2+ source History_for_Account_Z20144832*.csv # | grep -E '^([^,]*,){12}[^,]*$' | sed -E -e 's/^ //' -e 's/\.([0-9]),/.\10,/g' -e 's/,([0-9]+),/,\1.00,/g'++ Or, after source you can write | and a data generating command (with no+ file pattern before the |). This command receives no input, and should+ output zero or more lines of character-separated values, suitable for con-+ version by the CSV rules.++ Examples:++ source | paypaljson | paypalcsv+ source | paypalcsv data/paypal.json+ source | simplefinjson >data/simplefin.json && simplefincsv data/simplefin.json 'chase.*card'+ source | simplefincsv data/simplefin.json 'unify.*checking'++ (paypal* and simplefin* scripts are in bin/)++ Whenever hledger runs one of these commands, it will echo the command on+ stderr. If the command produces error output, but exits successfully,+ hledger will show the error output as a warning. If the command fails,+ hledger will fail and show the error output in the error message.++ Added in 1.50; experimental.++ archive+ With archive added to a rules file, the import command will archive each+ successfully processed data file or data command output in a nearby data/+ directory. The archive file name will be based on the rules file and the+ data file's modification date and extension (or for a data-generating com-+ mand, the current date and the ".csv" extension). The original data file,+ if any, will be removed.++ Also, in this mode import will prefer the oldest file matched by the source+ rule's glob pattern, not the newest. (So if there are multiple downloads,+ they will be imported and archived oldest first.)++ Archiving is optional, but it can be useful for troubleshooting your CSV+ rules, regenerating entries with improved rules, checking for variations in+ your bank's CSV, etc.++ Added in 1.50; experimental.++ encoding+ encoding ENCODING++ hledger normally expects non-ascii text to be using the system locale's+ text encoding. If you need to read CSV files which have some other encod-+ ing, you can do it by adding encoding ENCODING to your CSV rules. Eg: en-+ coding iso-8859-1.++ The following encodings are supported:++ ascii, utf-8, utf-16, utf-32, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-2, iso-8859-3,+ iso-8859-4, iso-8859-5, iso-8859-6, iso-8859-7, iso-8859-8, iso-8859-9,+ iso-8859-10, iso-8859-11, iso-8859-13, iso-8859-14, iso-8859-15,+ iso-8859-16, cp1250, cp1251, cp1252, cp1253, cp1254, cp1255, cp1256,+ cp1257, cp1258, koi8-r, koi8-u, gb18030, macintosh, jis-x-0201, jis-x-0208,+ iso-2022-jp, shift-jis, cp437, cp737, cp775, cp850, cp852, cp855, cp857,+ cp860, cp861, cp862, cp863, cp864, cp865, cp866, cp869, cp874, cp932.++ Added in 1.42.++ 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.++ skip+ skip N++ The word skip followed by a number (or no number, meaning 1) tells hledger+ to ignore this many non-empty lines at the start of the input data. You'll+ need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines. Note, empty and+ blank lines are skipped automatically, so you don't need to count those.++ skip has a second meaning: it can be used inside if blocks (described be-+ low), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is true. Records+ skipped in this way are ignored, except they are still required to be valid+ CSV.++ 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-style date parsing pat-+ tern - see https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-For-+ mat.html#v:formatTime. The pattern must parse the CSV date value com-+ pletely. 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++ Note currently there is no locale awareness for things like %b, and setting+ LC_TIME won't help.++ timezone+ timezone TIMEZONE++ When CSV contains date-times that are implicitly in some time zone other+ than yours, but containing no explicit time zone information, you can use+ this rule to declare the CSV's native time zone, which helps prevent+ off-by-one dates.++ When the CSV date-times do contain time zone information, you don't need+ this rule; instead, use %Z in date-format (or %z, %EZ, %Ez; see the format-+ Time link above).++ In either of these cases, hledger will do a time-zone-aware conversion, lo-+ calising the CSV date-times to your current system time zone. If you pre-+ fer to localise to some other time zone, eg for reproducibility, you can+ (on unix at least) set the output timezone with the TZ environment vari-+ able, eg:++ $ TZ=-1000 hledger print -f foo.csv # or TZ=-1000 hledger import foo.csv++ timezone currently does not understand timezone names, except "UTC", "GMT",+ "EST", "EDT", "CST", "CDT", "MST", "MDT", "PST", or "PDT". For others, use+ numeric format: +HHMM or -HHMM.++ newest-first+ hledger tries to ensure that the generated transactions will be ordered+ chronologically, including same-day transactions. Usually it can auto-de-+ tect how the CSV records are ordered. But if it encounters CSV where all+ records are on the same date, it assumes that the records are oldest first.+ If in fact the CSV's records are normally newest first, like:++ 2022-10-01, txn 3...+ 2022-10-01, txn 2...+ 2022-10-01, txn 1...++ you can add the newest-first rule to help hledger generate the transactions+ in correct order.++ # same-day CSV records are newest first+ newest-first++ intra-day-reversed+ If CSV records within a single day are ordered opposite to the overall+ record order, you can add the intra-day-reversed rule to improve the order+ of journal entries. Eg, here the overall record order is newest first, but+ same-day records are oldest first:++ 2022-10-02, txn 3...+ 2022-10-02, txn 4...+ 2022-10-01, txn 1...+ 2022-10-01, txn 2...++ # transactions within each day are reversed with respect to the overall date order+ intra-day-reversed++ 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.++ CSV fields and hledger fields+ This can be confusing, so let's start with an overview:++ * CSV fields are provided by your data file. They are named by their posi-+ tion in the CSV record, starting with 1. You can also give them a read-+ able name.++ * hledger fields are predefined; date, description, account1, amount1, ac-+ count2 are some of them. They correspond to parts of a transaction's+ journal entry, mostly.++ * The CSV fields and hledger fields are the only fields you'll be working+ with; you can't define new fields, or variables as in a programming lan-+ guage. (But you could add extra CSV fields to the data in preprocessing,+ before running the rules.)++ * For each CSV record, you'll assign values to one or more of the hledger+ fields to build up a transaction (journal entry). Values can be static+ text, CSV field values from the current record, or a combination of+ these.++ * For simple cases, you can give a CSV field the same name as one of the+ hledger fields, then its value will be automatically assigned to that+ hledger field.++ * CSV fields can only be read, not written to. They'll be on the right+ hand side, with a % prefix. Eg++ * testing a CSV field's value: if %CSVFIELD ...++ * interpolating its value: HLEDGERFIELD %CSVFIELD++ * hledger fields can only be written to, not read. They'll be on the left+ hand side (or in a fields list), with no prefix. Eg++ * setting the transaction's description to a value: description VALUE++ * setting the transaction's description to the second CSV field's value:+ fields date, description, amount++ fields list+ fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ...++ A fields list (the word fields followed by comma-separated field names) is+ optional, but convenient. It does two things:++ 1. It names the CSV field in each column. This can be convenient if you+ are referencing them in other rules, so you can say %SomeField instead+ of remembering %13.++ 2. Whenever you use one of the special hledger field names (described be-+ low), it assigns the CSV value in this position to that hledger field.+ This is the quickest way to populate hledger's fields and build a trans-+ action.++ Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the trans-+ action's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for later+ reference; and ignore the others":++ fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield++ In a fields list, the separator is always comma; it is unrelated to the CSV+ file's separator. Also:++ * 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.++ * Field names may contain _ (underscore) or - (hyphen).++ * Fields you don't care about can be given a dummy name or an empty name.++ If the CSV contains column headings, it's convenient to use these for your+ field names, suitably modified (eg lower-cased with spaces replaced by un-+ derscores).++ Sometimes you may want to alter a CSV field name to avoid assigning to a+ hledger field with the same name. Eg you could call the CSV's "balance"+ field balance_ to avoid directly setting hledger's balance field (and gen-+ erating a balance assertion).++ Field assignment+ HLEDGERFIELD 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, fol-+ lowed by a text value on the same line. This text value may interpolate+ CSV fields, referenced either by their 1-based position in the CSV record+ (%N) or by the name they were given in the fields list (%CSVFIELD), and+ regular expression match groups (\N).++ 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).++ Field names+ Note the two kinds of field names mentioned here, and used only in hledger+ CSV rules files:++ 1. CSV field names (CSVFIELD in these docs): you can optionally name the+ CSV columns for easy reference (since hledger doesn't yet automatically+ recognise column headings in a CSV file), by writing arbitrary names in+ a fields list, eg:++ fields When, What, Some_Id, Net, Total, Foo, Bar++ 2. Special hledger field names (HLEDGERFIELD in these docs): you must set+ at least some of these to generate the hledger transaction from a CSV+ record, by writing them as the left hand side of a field assignment, eg:++ date %When+ code %Some_Id+ description %What+ comment %Foo %Bar+ amount1 $ %Total++ or directly in a fields list:++ fields date, description, code, , amount1, Foo, Bar+ currency $+ comment %Foo %Bar++ Here are all the special hledger field names available, and what happens+ when you assign values to them:++ 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.++ 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.++ Posting comments can also contain a posting date. A secondary date, or a+ year-less date, will be ignored.++ 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 ac-+ count2. 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, in conditional rules.++ If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see be-+ low), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown" or+ "income:unknown").++ amount field+ There are several ways to set posting amounts from CSV, useful in different+ situations.++ 1. amount is the oldest and simplest. Assigning to this sets the amount of+ the first and second postings. In the second posting, the amount will+ be negated; also, if it has a cost attached, it will be converted to+ cost.++ 2. amount-in and amount-out work exactly like the above, but should be used+ when the CSV has two amount fields (such as "Debit" and "Credit", or+ "Inflow" and "Outflow"). Whichever field has a non-zero value will be+ used as the amount of the first and second postings. Here are some tips+ to avoid confusion:++ * It's not "amount-in for posting 1 and amount-out for posting 2", it+ is "extract a single amount from the amount-in or amount-out field,+ and use that for posting 1 and (negated) for posting 2".++ * Don't use both amount and amount-in/amount-out in the same rules+ file; choose based on whether the amount is in a single CSV field or+ spread across two fields.++ * In each record, at most one of the two CSV fields should contain a+ non-zero amount; the other field must contain a zero or nothing.++ * hledger assumes both CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it au-+ tomatically negates the amount-out values.++ * If the data doesn't fit these requirements, you'll probably need an+ if rule (see below).++ 3. amountN (where N is a number from 1 to 99) sets the amount of only a+ single posting: the Nth posting in the transaction. You'll usually need+ at least two such assignments to make a balanced transaction. You can+ also generate more than two postings, to represent more complex transac-+ tions. The posting numbers don't have to be consecutive; with if rules,+ higher posting numbers can be useful to ensure a certain order of post-+ ings.++ 4. amountN-in and amountN-out work exactly like the above, but should be+ used when the CSV has two amount fields. This is analogous to amount-in+ and amount-out, and those tips also apply here.++ 5. Remember that a fields list can also do assignments. So in a fields+ list if you name a CSV field "amount", that counts as assigning to+ amount. (If you don't want that, call it something else in the fields+ list, like "amount_".)++ 6. The above don't handle every situation; if you need more flexibility,+ use an if rule to set amounts conditionally. See "Working with CSV >+ Setting amounts" below for more on this and on amount-setting generally.++ 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 the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts and cur-+ rency.++ if block+ Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns in the CSV data.+ This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can categorise trans-+ actions, selecting an appropriate account name based on their description+ (for example). There are two ways to write conditional rules: "if blocks",+ described here, and "if tables", described below.++ An if block is the word if and one or more "matcher" expressions (can be a+ word or phrase), one per line, starting either on the same or next line;+ followed by one or more indented rules. Eg,++ if MATCHER+ RULE++ or++ if+ MATCHER+ MATCHER+ MATCHER+ RULE+ RULE++ If any of the matchers succeeds, all of the indented rules will be applied.+ They are usually field assignments, but the following special rules may+ also be used within an if block:++ * skip - skips the matched CSV record (generating no transaction from it)++ * end - skips the rest of the current CSV file.++ Some examples:++ # if the record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries"+ if groceries+ account2 expenses:groceries++ # if the record contains any of these phrases, set account2 and a transaction comment as shown+ if+ monthly service fee+ atm transaction fee+ banking thru software+ account2 expenses:business:banking+ comment XXX deductible ? check it++ # if an empty record is seen (assuming five fields), ignore the rest of the CSV file+ if ,,,,+ end++ Matchers+ There are two kinds of matcher:++ 1. A whole record matcher is simplest: it is just a word, single-line text+ fragment, or other regular expression, which hledger will try to match+ case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record.+ Eg: whole foods.++ 2. A field matcher has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name before+ the pattern.+ Eg: %3 whole foods or %description whole foods.+ hledger will try to match the pattern just within the named CSV field.++ When using these, there's two things to be aware of:++ 1. Whole record matchers don't see the exact original record; they see a+ reconstruction of it, in which values are comma-separated, and quotes+ enclosing values and whitespace outside those quotes are removed.+ Eg when reading an SSV record like: 2023-01-01 ; "Acme, Inc. " ; 1,000+ the whole record matcher sees instead: 2023-01-01,Acme, Inc. ,1,000++ 2. Field matchers expect either a CSV field number, or a CSV field name de-+ clared with fields. Anything else will cause it to match against the+ empty string, and probably fail silently (this makes it easier to reuse+ common rules with different CSV files). Don't use a hledger field name+ here (see CSV fields and hledger fields).++ You can also prefix a matcher with ! (and optional space) to negate it. Eg+ ! whole foods, ! %3 whole foods, !%description whole foods will match if+ "whole foods" is NOT present. Added in 1.32.++ The pattern is, as usual in hledger, a POSIX extended regular expression+ that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) and nothing else.+ For more details and tips, see Regular expressions in CSV rules below.++ Multiple matchers+ When an if block has multiple matchers, each on its own line,++ * By default they are OR'd (any of them can match).++ * Matcher lines beginning with & (or &&, since 1.42) are AND'ed with the+ matcher above (all in the AND'ed group must match).++ * Matcher lines beginning with & ! (since 1.41, or && !, since 1.42) are+ first negated and then AND'ed with the matcher above.++ You can also combine multiple matchers one the same line separated by &&+ (AND) or && ! (AND NOT). Eg %description amazon && %date 2025-01-01 will+ match only when the description field contains "amazon" and the date field+ contains "2025-01-01". Added in 1.42.++ Match groups+ Added in 1.32++ Matchers can define match groups: parenthesised portions of the regular ex-+ pression which are available for reference in field assignments. Groups+ are enclosed in regular parentheses (( and )) and can be nested. Each+ group is available in field assignments using the token \N, where N is an+ index into the match groups for this conditional block (e.g. \1, \2,+ etc.).++ Example: Warp credit card payment postings to the beginning of the billing+ period (Month start), to match how they are presented in statements, using+ posting dates:++ if %date (....-..)-..+ comment2 date:\1-01++ Another example: Read the expense account from the CSV field, but throw+ away a prefix:++ if %account1 liabilities:family:(expenses:.*)+ account1 \1++ if table+ "if tables" are an alternative to if blocks; they can express many matchers+ and field assignments in a more compact tabular format, like this:++ if,HLEDGERFIELD1,HLEDGERFIELD2,...+ MATCHERA,VALUE1,VALUE2,...+ MATCHERB && MATCHERC,VALUE1,VALUE2,... (*since 1.42*)+ ; Comment line that explains MATCHERD+ MATCHERD,VALUE1,VALUE2,...+ <empty line>++ The first character after if is taken to be this if table's field separa-+ tor. It is unrelated to the separator used in the CSV file. It should be+ a non-alphanumeric character like , or | that does not appear anywhere else+ in the table (it should not be used in field names or matchers or values,+ and it cannot be escaped with a backslash).++ Each line must contain the same number of separators; empty values are al-+ lowed. Whitespace can be used in the matcher lines for readability (but+ not in the if line, currently). You can use the comment lines in the table+ body. The table must be terminated by an empty line (or end of file).++ An if table like the above is interpreted as follows: try all of the lines+ with matchers; whenever a line with matchers succeeds, assign all of the+ values on that line to the corresponding hledger fields; If multiple lines+ match, later lines will override fields assigned by the earlier ones - just+ like the sequence of if blocks would behave.++ If table presented above is equivalent to this sequence of if blocks:++ if MATCHERA+ HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1+ HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2+ ...++ if MATCHERB && MATCHERC+ HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1+ HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2+ ...++ ; Comment line which explains MATCHERD+ if MATCHERD+ HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1+ HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2+ ...++ Example:++ if,account2,comment+ atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it+ %description groceries,expenses:groceries,+ ;; Comment line that desribes why this particular date is special+ 2023/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out++ balance-type+ Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple =+ type by default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding asser-+ tion. You may find the subaccount-including variants more useful, eg if+ you have created some virtual subaccounts of checking to help with budget-+ ing. 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++ include+ include RULESFILE++ This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point. RULES-+ FILE is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current file's di-+ rectory. 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++ Working with CSV+ Some 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 out-+ put.++ Valid CSV+ Note that hledger will only accept valid CSV conforming to RFC 4180, and+ equivalent SSV and TSV formats (like RFC 4180 but with semicolon or tab as+ separators). This means, eg:++ * Values may be enclosed in double quotes, or not. Enclosing in single+ quotes is not allowed. (Eg 'A','B' is rejected.)++ * When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the quotes are+ not allowed. (Eg "A", "B" is rejected.)++ * When values are not enclosed in quotes, they may not contain double+ quotes. (Eg A"A, B is rejected.)++ If your CSV/SSV/TSV is not valid in this sense, you'll need to transform it+ before reading with hledger. Try using sed, or a more permissive CSV+ parser like python's csv lib.++ File Extension+ To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error mes-+ sages (and choose the right field separator character by default), it's+ best if CSV/SSV/TSV files are named with a .csv, .ssv or .tsv filename ex-+ tension. (More about this at Data formats.)++ When reading files with the "wrong" extension, you can ensure the CSV+ reader (and the default field separator) by prefixing the file path with+ csv:, ssv: or tsv:: Eg:++ $ hledger -f ssv:foo.dat print++ You can also override the default field separator with a separator rule if+ needed.++ Reading CSV from standard input+ You'll need the file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also, since+ hledger assumes journal format by default. Eg:++ $ cat foo.dat | hledger -f ssv:- print++ 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 specify a rules file with --rules, that rules file will be used for all+ the CSV files.++ Reading files specified by rule+ Instead of specifying a CSV file in the command line, you can specify a+ rules file, as in hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD. By default this will read+ data from foo.csv in the same directory, but you can add a source rule to+ specify a different data file, perhaps located in your web browser's down-+ load directory.++ This feature was added in hledger 1.30, so you won't see it in most CSV+ rules examples. But it helps remove some of the busywork of managing CSV+ downloads. Most of your financial institutions's default CSV filenames are+ different and can be recognised by a glob pattern. So you can put a rule+ like source Checking1*.csv in foo-checking.csv.rules, and then periodically+ follow a workflow like:++ 1. Download CSV from Foo's website, using your browser's defaults++ 2. Run hledger import foo-checking.csv.rules to import any new transactions++ After import, you can: discard the CSV, or leave it where it is for a+ while, or move it into your archives, as you prefer. If you do nothing,+ next time your browser will save something like Checking1-2.csv, and+ hledger will use that because of the * wild card and because it is the most+ recent.++ Valid transactions+ After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gener-+ ated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing them, ap-+ plying balance assignments, and canonicalising amount styles. Any errors+ at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying the problem en-+ try.++ 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 chrono-+ logical order, and new records appear only at the new end.)++ A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and otherwise, ex-+ ist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data. See:++ * https://hledger.org/cookbook.html#setups-and-workflows++ * https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion++ Regular expressions in CSV rules+ Regular expressions in if conditions (AKA matchers) are POSIX extended reg-+ ular expressions, that also support GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>),+ and nothing else. (For more detail, see Regular expressions.)++ Here are some examples that might be useful in CSV rules:++ * Is field "foo" truly empty ? if %foo ^$++ * Is it empty or containing only whitespace ? if %foo ^ *$++ * Is it non-empty ? if %foo .++ * Does it contain non-whitespace ? if %foo [^ ]++ Testing the value of numeric fields is a little harder. You can't use+ hledger queries like amt:0 or amt:>10 in CSV rules. But you can often+ achieve the same thing with a regular expression.++ Note the content and layout of number fields in CSV varies, and can change+ over time (eg if you switch data providers). So numeric regexps are always+ somewhat specific to your particular CSV data; and it's a good idea to make+ them defensive and robust if you can.++ Here are some examples:++ * Does foo contain a non-zero number ? if %foo [1-9]++ * Is it negative ? if %foo -++ * Is it non-negative ? if ! %foo -++ * Is it >= 10 ? if %foo [1-9][0-9]+\. (assuming a decimal period and no+ leading zeros)++ * Is it >= 10 and < 20 ? if %foo \b1[0-9]\.++ Setting amounts+ Continuing from amount field above, here are more tips for amount-setting:++ 1. If the amount is in a single CSV field:++ a. If its sign indicates direction of flow:+ Assign it to amountN, to set the Nth posting's amount. N is usually 1+ or 2 but can go up to 99.++ b. If another field indicates direction of flow:+ Use one or more conditional rules to set the appropriate amount sign.+ Eg:++ # assume a withdrawal unless Type contains "deposit":+ amount1 -%Amount+ if %Type deposit+ amount1 %Amount++ 2. If the amount is in two CSV fields (such as Debit and Credit, or In and+ Out):++ a. If both fields are unsigned:+ Assign one field to amountN-in and the other to amountN-out. hledger+ will automatically negate the "out" field, and will use whichever field+ value is non-zero as posting N's amount.++ b. If either field is signed:+ You will probably need to override hledger's sign for one or the other+ field, as in the following example:++ # Negate the -out value, but only if it is not empty:+ fields date, description, amount1-in, amount1-out+ if %amount1-out [1-9]+ amount1-out -%amount1-out++ c. If both fields can contain a non-zero value (or both can be empty):+ The -in/-out rules normally choose the value which is+ non-zero/non-empty. Some value pairs can be ambiguous, such as 1 and+ none. For such cases, use conditional rules to help select the amount.+ Eg, to handle the above you could select the value containing non-zero+ digits:++ fields date, description, in, out+ if %in [1-9]+ amount1 %in+ if %out [1-9]+ amount1 %out++ 3. If you want posting 2's amount converted to cost:+ Use the unnumbered amount (or amount-in and amount-out) syntax.++ 4. If the CSV has only balance amounts, not transaction amounts:+ Assign to balanceN, to set a balance assignment on the Nth posting, causing+ the posting's amount to be calculated automatically. balance with no num-+ ber is equivalent to balance1. In this situation hledger is more likely to+ guess the wrong default account name, so you may need to set that explic-+ itly.++ Amount signs+ There is some special handling making it easier to parse and to reverse+ amount signs. (This only works for whole amounts, not for cost amounts+ such as COST in amount1 AMT @ COST):++ * 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 "".++ It's not possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount to its+ absolute value, ie discard its sign.++ Setting currency/commodity+ If the currency/commodity symbol is included in the CSV's amount field(s):++ 2023-01-01,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++ 2023-01-01 foo+ expenses:unknown $123.00+ income:unknown $-123.00++ If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field:++ 2023-01-01,foo,USD,123.00++ You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special ef-+ fect of prepending itself to every amount in the transaction (on the left,+ with no separating space):++ fields date,description,currency,amount++ 2023-01-01 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++ 2023-01-01 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+ When you are reading CSV data, eg with a command like hledger -f foo.csv+ print, hledger will infer each commodity's decimal precision (and other+ commodity display styles) from the amounts - much as when reading a journal+ file without commodity directives (see the link).++ Note, the commodity styles are not inferred from the numbers in the origi-+ nal CSV data; rather, they are inferred from the amounts generated by the+ CSV rules.++ When you are importing CSV data with the import command, eg hledger import+ foo.csv, there's another step: import tries to make the new entries conform+ to the journal's existing styles. So for each commodity - let's say it's+ EUR - import will choose:++ 1. the style declared for EUR by a commodity directive in the journal++ 2. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts in the journal++ 3. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts generated by the CSV+ rules.++ TLDR: if import is not generating the precisions or styles you want, add a+ commodity directive to specify them.++ 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++ How CSV rules are evaluated+ Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated. If you get a confusing+ error while reading a CSV file, it may help to try to understand which of+ these steps is failing:++ 1. Any included rules files are inlined, from top to bottom, depth first+ (scanning each included file for further includes, recursively, before+ proceeding).++ 2. Top level rules (date-format, fields, newest-first, skip etc) are read,+ top to bottom. "Top level rules" means non-conditional rules. If a+ rule occurs more than once, the last one wins; except for skip/end+ rules, where the first one wins.++ 3. The CSV file is read as text. Any non-ascii characters will be decoded+ using the text encoding specified by the encoding rule, otherwise the+ system locale's text encoding.++ 4. Any top-level skip or end rule is applied. skip [N] immediately skips+ the current or next N CSV records; end immediately skips all remaining+ CSV records (not normally used at top level).++ 5. Now any remaining CSV records are processed. For each CSV record, in+ file order:++ * Is there a conditional skip/end rule that applies for this record ?+ Search the if blocks, from top to bottom, for a succeeding one con-+ taining a skip or end rule. If found, skip the specified number of+ CSV records, then continue at 5.+ Otherwise...++ * Do some basic validation on this CSV record (eg, check that it has at+ least two fields).++ * For each hledger field (date, description, account1, etc.):++ 1. Get the field's assigned value, first searching top level assign-+ ments, made directly or by the fields rule, then assignments made+ inside succeeding if blocks. If there are more than one, the last+ one wins.++ 2. Compute the field's actual value (as text), by interpolating any+ %CSVFIELD references within the assigned value; or by choosing a+ default value if there was no assignment.++ * Generate a hledger transaction from the hledger field values, parsing+ them if needed (eg from text to an amount).++ This is all done by the CSV reader, one of several readers hledger can use+ to read transactions from an input file. When all input files have been+ read successfully, their transactions are passed to whichever hledger com-+ mand the user specified.++ Well factored rules+ Some things than can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules files:++ * Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files into a com-+ mon.rules, and adding include common.rules to each CSV's rules file.++ * Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the frequently+ used parts.++ CSV rules examples+ 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.++ Coinbase+ A simple example with some CSV from Coinbase. The spot price is recorded+ using cost notation. The legacy amount field name conveniently sets amount+ 2 (posting 2's amount) to the total cost.++ # Timestamp,Transaction Type,Asset,Quantity Transacted,Spot Price Currency,Spot Price at Transaction,Subtotal,Total (inclusive of fees and/or spread),Fees and/or Spread,Notes+ # 2021-12-30T06:57:59Z,Receive,USDC,100,GBP,0.740000,"","","","Received 100.00 USDC from an external account"++ # coinbase.csv.rules+ skip 1+ fields Timestamp,Transaction_Type,Asset,Quantity_Transacted,Spot_Price_Currency,Spot_Price_at_Transaction,Subtotal,Total,Fees_Spread,Notes+ date %Timestamp+ date-format %Y-%m-%dT%T%Z+ description %Notes+ account1 assets:coinbase:cc+ amount %Quantity_Transacted %Asset @ %Spot_Price_at_Transaction %Spot_Price_Currency++ $ hledger print -f coinbase.csv+ 2021-12-30 Received 100.00 USDC from an external account+ assets:coinbase:cc 100 USDC @ 0.740000 GBP+ income:unknown -74.000000 GBP++ 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++ Paypal+ Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some Pay-+ pal-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:++Timeclock+ hledger can read time logs in the timeclock time logging format of time-+ clock.el. As with Ledger, hledger's timeclock format is a subset/variant+ of timeclock.el's.++ hledger's timeclock format was updated in hledger 1.43 and 1.50. If your+ old time logs are rejected, you should adapt them to modern hledger; for+ now, you can restore the pre-1.43 behaviour with the --old-timeclock flag.++ Here the timeclock format in hledger 1.50+:++ # Comment lines like these, and blank lines, are ignored:+ # comment line+ ; comment line+ * comment line++ # Lines beginning with b, h, or capital O are also ignored, for compatibility:+ b SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]+ h SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]+ O SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ TEXT]++ # Lines beginning with i or o are are clock-in / clock-out entries:+ i SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ] ACCOUNT[ DESCRIPTION][;COMMENT]]+ o SIMPLEDATE HH:MM[:SS][+-ZZZZ][ ACCOUNT][;COMMENT]++ The date is a hledger simple date (YYYY-MM-DD or similar). The time parts+ must use two digits. The seconds are optional. A + or - four-digit time+ zone is accepted for compatibility, but currently ignored; times are always+ interpreted as a local time.++ In clock-in entries (i), the account name is required. A transaction de-+ scription, separated from the account name by 2+ spaces, is optional. A+ transaction comment, beginning with ;, is also optional. (Indented follow-+ ing comment lines are also allowed, as in journal format.)++ In clock-out entries (o) have no description, but can have a comment if you+ wish. A clock-in and clock-out pair form a "transaction" posting some num-+ ber of hours to an account - also known as a session. Eg:++ i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 session1+ o 2015/03/30 10:00:00++ $ hledger -f a.timeclock print+ 2015-03-30 * 09:00-10:00+ (session1) 1.00h++ Clock-ins and clock-outs are matched by their account/session name. If a+ clock-out does not specify a name, the most recent unclosed clock-in is+ closed. You can have multiple sessions active simultaneously. Entries are+ processed in the order they are parsed. Sessions spanning more than one+ day are automatically split at day boundaries.++ Eg, the following time log:++ i 2015/03/30 09:00:00 some account optional description after 2 spaces ; optional comment, tags:+ o 2015/03/30 09:20:00+ i 2015/03/31 22:21:45 another:account+ o 2015/04/01 02:00:34+ i 2015/04/02 12:00:00 another:account ; this demonstrates multple sessions being clocked in+ i 2015/04/02 13:00:00 some account+ o 2015/04/02 14:00:00+ o 2015/04/02 15:00:00 another:account++ generates these transactions:++ $ hledger -f t.timeclock print+ 2015-03-30 * optional description after 2 spaces ; optional comment, tags:+ (some account) 0.33h++ 2015-03-31 * 22:21-23:59+ (another:account) 1.64h++ 2015-04-01 * 00:00-02:00+ (another:account) 2.01h++ 2015-04-02 * 12:00-15:00 ; this demonstrates multiple sessions being clocked in+ (another:account) 3.00h++ 2015-04-02 * 13:00-14:00+ (some account) 1.00h++ 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 these shell aliases at the command line:++ 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 Emacs's built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock-x.el, and+ perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el++ * 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 exe-+ cutable renamed.++Timedot+ timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging format. Compared+ to timeclock format, it is more convenient for quick, approximate, and+ retroactive time logging, and more human-readable (you can see at a glance+ where time was spent). A quick example:++ 2023-05-01+ hom:errands .... .... ; two hours; the space is ignored+ fos:hledger:timedot .. ; half an hour+ per:admin:finance ; no time spent yet++ hledger reads this as a transaction on this day with three (unbalanced)+ postings, where each dot represents "0.25". No commodity symbol is as-+ sumed, but we typically interpret it as hours.++ $ hledger -f a.timedot print # .timedot file extension (or timedot: prefix) is required+ 2023-05-01 *+ (hom:errands) 2.00 ; two hours+ (fos:hledger:timedot) 0.50 ; half an hour+ (per:admin:finance) 0++ A timedot file contains a series of transactions (usually one per day).+ Each begins with a simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D), optionally be fol-+ lowed on the same line by a transaction description, and/or a transaction+ comment following a semicolon.++ After the date line are zero or more time postings, consisting of:++ * An account name - any hledger-style account name, optionally indented.++ * Two or more spaces - required if there is an amount (as in journal for-+ mat).++ * A timedot amount, which can be++ * empty (representing zero)++ * a number, optionally followed by a unit s, m, h, d, w, mo, or y, repre-+ senting a precise number of seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months+ or years (hours is assumed by default), which will be converted to+ hours according to 60s = 1m, 60m = 1h, 24h = 1d, 7d = 1w, 30d = 1mo,+ 365d = 1y.++ * one or more dots (period characters), each representing 0.25. These+ are the dots in "timedot". Spaces are ignored and can be used for+ grouping/alignment.++ * Added in 1.32 one or more letters. These are like dots but they also+ generate a tag t: (short for "type") with the letter as its value, and+ a separate posting for each of the values. This provides a second di-+ mension of categorisation, viewable in reports with --pivot t.++ * An optional comment following a semicolon (a hledger-style posting com-+ ment).++ There is some flexibility to help with keeping time log data and notes in+ the same file:++ * Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored.++ * After the first date line, lines which do not contain a double space are+ parsed as postings with zero amount. (hledger's register reports will+ show these if you add -E).++ * Before the first date line, lines beginning with * (eg org headings) are+ ignored. And from the first date line onward, Emacs org mode heading+ prefixes at the start of lines (one or more *'s followed by a space) will+ be ignored. This means the time log can also be a org outline.++ Timedot files don't support directives like journal files. So a common+ pattern is to have a main journal file (eg time.journal) that contains any+ needed directives, and then includes the timedot file (include time.time-+ dot).++ Timedot examples+ Numbers:++ 2016/2/3+ inc:client1 4+ fos:hledger 3h+ biz:research 60m++ Dots:++ # 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 .++ $ 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++ Letters:++ # Activity types:+ # c cleanup/catchup/repair+ # e enhancement+ # s support+ # l learning/research++ 2023-11-01+ work:adm ccecces++ $ hledger -f a.timedot print+ 2023-11-01+ (work:adm) 1 ; t:c+ (work:adm) 0.5 ; t:e+ (work:adm) 0.25 ; t:s++ $ hledger -f a.timedot bal+ 1.75 work:adm+ --------------------+ 1.75++ $ hledger -f a.timedot bal --pivot t+ 1.00 c+ 0.50 e+ 0.25 s+ --------------------+ 1.75++ Org:++ * 2023 Work Diary+ ** Q1+ *** 2023-02-29+ **** DONE+ 0700 yoga+ **** UNPLANNED+ **** BEGUN+ hom:chores+ cleaning ...+ water plants+ outdoor - one full watering can+ indoor - light watering+ **** TODO+ adm:planning: trip+ *** LATER++ Using . as account name separator:++ 2016/2/4+ fos.hledger.timedot 4h+ fos.ledger ..++ $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias '/\./=:' bal -t+ 4.50 fos+ 4.00 hledger:timedot+ 0.50 ledger+ --------------------+ 4.50++PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS+Time periods+ Report start & end date+ Most hledger reports will by default show the full time period represented+ by the journal. The report start date will be the earliest transaction or+ posting date, and the report end date will be the latest transaction, post-+ ing, or market price date.++ Often you will want to see a shorter period, such as the current month.+ You can specify a start and/or end date with the -b/--begin, -e/--end, or+ -p/--period options, or a date: query argument, described below. All of+ these accept the smart date syntax, also described below.++ End dates are exclusive; specify the day after the last day you want to see+ in the report.++ When dates are specified by multiple options, the last (right-most) option+ wins. And when date: queries and date options are combined, the report pe-+ riod will be their intersection.++ Examples:++ -b 2016/3/17+ beginning on St. Patrick's day 2016++ -e 12/1+ ending at the start of December 1st in the current year++ -p 'this month'+ during the current month++ -p thismonth+ same as above, spaces are optional++ -b 2023+ beginning on the first day of 2023++ date:2023.. or date:2023-+ same as above++ -b 2024 -e 2025 -p '2000 to 2030' date:2020-01 date:2020 :+ during January 2020 (the smallest common period, with the -p overriding -b+ and -e)++ Smart dates+ In hledger's user interfaces (though not in the journal file), you can op-+ tionally use "smart date" syntax. Smart dates can be written with english+ words, can be relative, and can have parts omitted. Missing parts are in-+ ferred as 1, when needed. Smart dates can be interpreted as dates or peri-+ ods depending on the context.++ Examples:++ 2004-01-01, 2004/10/1, 2004.9.1, 20240504, 2024Q1 :+ Exact dates. The year must have at least four digits, the month must be+ 1-12, the day must be 1-31, the separator can be - or / or . or nothing.+ The q can be upper or lower case and the quarter number must be 1-4.++ 2004-10+ start of month++ 2004q3+ start of third quarter of 2004++ q3 start of third quarter of current year++ 2004 start of year++ 10/1 or oct or october+ October 1st in current year++ 21 21st day in current month++ yesterday, today, tomorrow+ -1, 0, 1 days from today++ last/this/next day/week/month/quarter/year+ -1, 0, 1 periods from the current period++ last/this/next tuesday+ the previous occurrence of the named day, or the next occurrence af-+ ter today++ last/this/next february+ the previous occurrence of 1st of the named month, or the next oc-+ currence after the current month++ in n days/weeks/months/quarters/years+ n periods from the current period++ n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ahead+ n periods from the current period++ n days/weeks/months/quarters/years ago+ -n periods from the current period++ 20181201+ 8 digit YYYYMMDD with valid year month and day++ 201812+ 6 digit YYYYMM with valid year and month++ Dates with no separators are allowed but might give surprising results if+ mistyped:++ * 20181301 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid month) is parsed as an eight-digit+ year++ * 20181232 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid day) gives a parse error++ * 201801012 (a valid YYYYMMDD followed by additional digits) gives a parse+ error++ The meaning of relative dates depends on today's date. If you need to test+ or reproduce old reports, you can use the --today option to override that.+ (Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not affected by --today.)++ Report intervals+ A report interval can be specified so that reports like register, balance+ or activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a separate row+ or column.++ The following standard intervals can be enabled with command-line flags:++ * -D/--daily++ * -W/--weekly++ * -M/--monthly++ * -Q/--quarterly++ * -Y/--yearly++ More complex intervals can be specified using -p/--period, described below.++ Date adjustments+ Start date adjustment+ If you let hledger infer a report's start date, it will adjust the date to+ the previous natural boundary of the report interval, for convenient peri-+ odic reports. (If you don't want that, specify a start date.)++ For example, if the journal's first transaction is on january 10th,++ * hledger register (no report interval) will start the report on january+ 10th.++ * hledger register --monthly will start the report on the previous month+ boundary, january 1st.++ * hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 will start the report on january+ 5th [1].++ Also if you are generating transactions or budget goals with periodic+ transaction rules, their start date may be adjusted in a similar way (in+ certain situations).++ End date adjustment+ A report's end date is always adjusted to include a whole number of inter-+ vals, so that the last subperiod has the same length as the others.++ For example, if the journal's last transaction is on february 20th,++ * hledger register will end the report on february 20th.++ * hledger register --monthly will end the report at the end of february.++ * hledger register --monthly --end 2/14 also will end the report at the end+ of february (overriding the requested end date).++ * hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 --end 2/14 will end the report on+ march 4th [1].++ [1] Since hledger 1.29.++ Period headings+ With non-standard subperiods, hledger will show "STARTDATE..ENDDATE" head-+ ings. With standard subperiods (ie, starting on a natural interval bound-+ ary), you'll see more compact headings, which are usually preferable.+ (Though month names will be in english, currently.)++ So if you are specifying a start date and you want compact headings: choose+ a start of year for yearly reports, a start of quarter for quarterly re-+ ports, a start of month for monthly reports, etc. (Remember, you can write+ eg -b 2024 or 1/1 as a shortcut for a start of year, or 2024-04 or 202404+ or Apr for a start of month or quarter.)++ For weekly reports, choose a date that's a Monday. (You can try different+ dates until you see the short headings, or write eg -b '3 weeks ago'.)++ Period expressions+ The -p/--period option specifies a period expression, which is a compact+ way of expressing a start date, end date, and/or report interval.++ Here's a period expression with a start and end date (specifying the first+ quarter of 2009):++ -p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"++ Several keywords like "from" and "to" are supported for readability; these+ are optional. "to" can also be written as ".." or "-". The spaces are+ also optional, as long as you don't run two dates together. So the follow-+ ing 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, these are also+ equivalent to the above:++ -p "1/1 4/1"+ -p "jan-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 date in the journal:++ -p "from 2009/1/1" everything after january 1,+ 2009+ -p "since 2009/1" the same, since is a syn-+ onym+ -p "from 2009" the same+ -p "to 2009" everything before january+ 1, 2009++ You can also specify a period by writing a single partial or full date:++ -p "2009" the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1"+ -p "2009/1" the month of january 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to+ 2009/2/1"+ -p "2009/1/1" the first day of 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to+ 2009/1/2"++ or by using the "Q" quarter-year syntax (case insensitive):++ -p "2009Q1" first quarter of 2009, equivalent to "2009/1/1 to+ 2009/4/1"+ -p "q4" fourth quarter of the current year++ Period expressions with a report interval+ A period expression can also begin with a report interval, separated from+ the start/end dates (if any) by a space or the word in:++ -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"+ -p "monthly in 2008"+ -p "quarterly"++ More complex report intervals+ Some more complex intervals can be specified within period expressions,+ such as:++ * biweekly (every two weeks)++ * fortnightly++ * bimonthly (every two months)++ * every day|week|month|quarter|year++ * every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years++ Weekly on a custom day:++ * every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted after the num-+ ber)++ * every WEEKDAYNAME (full or three-letter english weekday name, case insen-+ sitive)++ Monthly on a custom day:++ * every Nth day [of month] (31st day will be adjusted to each month's last+ day)++ * every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]++ Yearly on a custom month and 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 "bimonthly from 2008"+ -p "every 2 weeks"+ -p "every 5 months from+ 2009/03"+ -p "every 2nd day of week" periods will go from Tue to Tue+ -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"++ Multiple weekday intervals+ This special form is also supported:++ * every WEEKDAYNAME,WEEKDAYNAME,... (full or three-letter english weekday+ names, case insensitive)++ Also, weekday and weekendday are shorthand for mon,tue,wed,thu,fri and+ sat,sun.++ This 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, which is un-+ usual. (Related: #1632)++ Examples:++ -p "every dates will be Mon, Wed, Fri; periods will be+ mon,wed,fri" Mon-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, usually preferred: -NUM), reports+ will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding deeper subaccounts.+ Use this when you want a summary with less detail. This flag has the same+ effect as a depth: query argument. So all of these are equivalent:+ depth:2, --depth=2, -2.++ You can also provide custom depths for specific accounts, by providing a+ REGEX=NUM argument instead of just NUM (since 1.41). For example, --depth+ assets=2 (or depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts matching the regular+ expression "assets" to depth 2. So assets:bank:savings would be collapsed+ to assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card would not be affected.++ If REGEX contains spaces or other special characters, enclose it in quotes+ in the usual way. Eg: --depth 'credit card=2'++ Combining depth options+ If a command line contains multiple general depth options, the last one+ wins. (Useful for overriding a depth specified by scripts.)++ Or a command may contain a combination of general and custom depth options.+ In this case, the most specifically (deepest) matching option wins. Some+ examples:++ * --depth assets=3 --depth expenses=2 --depth 1 would collapse accounts+ containing "assets" to depth 3, accounts containing "expenses" to depth+ 2, and all other accounts to depth 1.++ * --depth assets=1 --depth savings=2 would collapse assets:bank:savings to+ depth 2 (not depth 1; because "savings" matches a deeper part of the ac-+ count name than "assets").++ Note currently, to override a custom depth option --depth REGEX=NUM with a+ later option, the later option must use the same REGEX.++Queries+ Many hledger commands accept query arguments, which restrict their scope+ and let you report on a precise subset of your data. Here's a quick+ overview of hledger's queries:++ * By default, a query argument is treated as a case-insensitive substring+ pattern for matching account names. Eg:++ dining groceries+ car:fuel++ * Patterns containing spaces or other special characters must be enclosed+ in single or double quotes:++ 'personal care'++ * Patterns are actually regular expressions, so you can add regexp+ metacharacters for more precision (or you may need to backslash-escape+ certain characters; see "Regular expressions" above):++ '^expenses\b'+ 'food$'+ 'fuel|repair'+ 'accounts (payable|receivable)'++ * To match something other than the account name, you can add a query type+ prefix, such as:++ date:202312-+ status:+ desc:amazon+ cur:USD+ cur:\\$+ amt:'>0'+ acct:groceries (but acct: is the default, so we usually don't bother+ writing it)++ * To negate a query, add a not: prefix:++ not:status:'*'+ not:desc:'opening|closing'+ not:cur:USD++ * Multiple query terms can be combined, as space-separated queries Eg:+ hledger print date:2022 desc:amazon desc:amzn (show transactions dated in+ 2022 whose description contains "amazon" or "amzn").++ * Or more flexibly as boolean queries. Eg: hledger print expr:'date:2022+ and (desc:amazon or desc:amzn) and not date:202210'++ All hledger commands use the same query language, but different commands+ may interpret the query in different ways. We haven't described the com-+ mands yet (that's coming in PART 4: COMMANDS below) but here's the gist of+ it:++ * Transaction-oriented commands (print, aregister, close, import, descrip-+ tions..) try to match transactions (including the transaction's post-+ ings).++ * Posting-oriented commands (register, balance, balancesheet, incomestate-+ ment, accounts..) try to match postings. Postings inherit their trans-+ action's attributes for querying purposes, so transaction fields like+ date or description can still be referenced in a posting query.++ * A few commands match in more specific ways. (Eg aregister, which has a+ special first argument.)++ Query types+ Here are the query types available:++ acct: query+ acct:REGEX, or just REGEX+ Match account names containing this case insensitive regular expression.+ This is the default query type, so we usually don't bother writing the+ "acct:" prefix.++ amt: query+ amt:N, amt:'<N', 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.) amt: needs quotes to hide the less than/greater than+ sign from the command line shell.++ 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.++ Keep in mind that amt: matches posting amounts, not account balances.++ code: query+ code:REGEX+ Match by transaction code (eg check number).++ cur: query+ cur:REGEX+ Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose currency/commod-+ ity symbol is fully matched by REGEX. (Contrary to hledger's usual infix+ matching. To do infix matching, write .*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 will usually+ need one more level of escaping. Eg to match the dollar sign: cur:\\$ or+ cur:'\$'++ desc: query+ desc:REGEX+ Match transaction descriptions.++ date: query+ date:PERIODEXPR+ Match dates (or with the --date2 flag, secondary dates) within the speci-+ fied period. PERIODEXPR is a period expression. Examples:+ date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter.++ PERIODEXPR may include a report interval (since 1.52). On the command+ line, this is equivalent to specifying a report interval with a command+ line option. In other contexts (hledger-ui, hledger-web), the report in-+ terval may be ignored.++ date2: query+ date2:PERIODEXPR+ If you use secondary dates: this matches secondary dates within the speci-+ fied period. It is not affected by the --date2 flag. A report interval in+ PERIODEXPR will be ignored.++ depth: query+ depth:[REGEXP=]N+ Match (or display, depending on command) accounts at or above this depth,+ optionally only for accounts matching a provided regular expression. See+ Depth for detailed rules.++ note: query+ note:REGEX+ Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the+ whole description if there's no |).++ payee: query+ payee:REGEX+ Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of |,+ or the whole description if there's no |).++ real: query+ real:, real:0+ Match real or virtual postings respectively.++ status: query+ status:, status:!, status:*+ Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.++ type: query+ type:TYPECODES+ Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types). TYPECODES+ is one or more of the single-letter account type codes ALERXCVG, case in-+ sensitive. Note type:A, type:E, and type:R will also match their respec-+ tive subtypes C (Cash), V (Conversion), and G (Gain). Certain kinds of ac-+ count alias can disrupt account types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and+ account types.++ tag: query+ tag:NAMEREGEX[=VALREGEX]+ Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value. Note:++ * Both regular expressions do infix matching. If you need a complete+ match, use ^ and $.+ Eg: tag:'^fullname$', tag:'^fullname$=^fullvalue$++ * To match values, ignoring names, do tag:.=VALREGEX++ * Accounts also inherit the tags of their parent accounts.++ * Postings also inherit the tags of their account and their transaction .++ * Transactions also acquire the tags of their postings.++ Negative queries+ not: query+ not:QUERY+ You can prepend not: to a query to negate the match.+ Eg: not:equity, not:desc:apple+ (Also, a trick: not:not:... can sometimes solve query problems conve-+ niently.)++ Space-separated queries+ When given multiple space-separated 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.++ The print command is a little different, showing 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.++ Boolean queries+ You can write more complicated "boolean" query expressions, enclosed in+ quotes and prefixed with expr:. These can combine subqueries with NOT,+ AND, OR operators (case insensitive), and parentheses for grouping. Eg, to+ show transactions involving both cash and expense accounts:++ hledger print expr:'cash AND expenses'++ The prefix and enclosing quotes are required, so don't write hledger print+ cash AND expenses. That would be a space-separated query showing transac-+ tions involving accounts with any of "cash", "and", "expenses" in their+ names.++ You can write space-separated queries inside a boolean query, and they will+ combine as described above, but it might be confusing and best avoided. Eg+ these are equivalent, showing transactions involving cash or expenses ac-+ counts:++ hledger print expr:'cash expenses'+ hledger print cash expenses++ There is a restriction with date: queries: they may not be used inside OR+ expressions.++ Actually, there are three types of boolean query: expr: for general use,+ and any: and all: variants which can be useful with print.++ expr: query+ expr:'QUERYEXPR'+ For example, expr:'date:lastmonth AND NOT (food OR rent)' means "match+ things which are dated in the last month and do not have food or rent in+ the account name".++ When using expr: with transaction-oriented commands like print, post-+ ing-oriented query terms like acct: and amt: are considered to match the+ transaction if they match any of its postings.+ So, hledger print expr:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions with (at+ least one posting involving a cash account) and (at least one posting with+ a positive amount)".++ any: query+ any:'QUERYEXPR'+ Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like print, it+ matches the transaction only if a posting can be matched by all of QUERY-+ EXPR.+ So, hledger print any:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions where at+ least one posting posts a positive amount to a cash account".++ all: query+ all:'QUERYEXPR'+ Like expr:, but when used with transaction-oriented commands like print, it+ matches the transaction only if all postings are matched by all of QUERY-+ EXPR (and there is at least one posting).+ So, hledger print all:'cash and amt:0' means "show transactions where all+ postings involve a cash account and have a zero amount".+ Or, hledger print all:'cash or checking' means "show transactions which+ touch only cash and/or checking accounts".++ Queries and command options+ Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2 is+ equivalent to --depth 2, date:2023 is equivalent to -p 2023, 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, #1625.)++Pivoting+ Normally, hledger groups amounts and displays their totals by account+ (name). With --pivot PIVOTEXPR, some other field's (or multiple fields')+ value is used as a synthetic account name, causing different grouping and+ display. PIVOTEXPR can be++ * any of these standard transaction or posting fields (their value is sub-+ stituted): status, code, desc, payee, note, acct, comm/cur, amt, cost++ * or a tag name++ * or any combination of these, colon-separated.++ Some special cases:++ * Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate ac-+ count hierarchy.++ * When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the tag's+ first value will be used as the pivoted value.++ * When a posting has multiple commodities, the pivoted value of+ "comm"/"cur" will be "". Also when an unrecognised tag name or field is+ provided, its pivoted value will be "". (If this causes confusing out-+ put, consider excluding those postings from the report.)++ Examples:++ 2016/02/16 Yearly Dues Payment+ assets:bank account 2 EUR+ income:dues -2 EUR ; member: John Doe, kind: Lifetime++ Normal balance report showing account names:++ $ hledger balance+ 2 EUR assets:bank account+ -2 EUR income:dues+ --------------------+ 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):++ $ 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++ Hierarchical reports can be generated with multiple pivot values:++ $ hledger balance Income:Dues --pivot kind:member+ -2 EUR Lifetime:John Doe+ --------------------+ -2 EUR++Generating data+ hledger can enrich the data provided to it, or generate new data, in a num-+ ber of ways. Mostly, this is done only if you request it:++ * Missing amounts or missing costs in transactions are inferred automati-+ cally when possible.++ * The --infer-equity flag infers missing conversion equity postings from+ @/@@ costs.++ * The --infer-costs flag infers missing costs from conversion equity post-+ ings.++ * The --infer-market-prices flag infers P price directives from costs.++ * The --auto flag adds extra postings to transactions matched by auto post-+ ing rules.++ * The --forecast option generates transactions from periodic transaction+ rules.++ * The balance --budget report infers budget goals from periodic transaction+ rules.++ * Commands like close, rewrite, and hledger-interest generate transactions+ or postings.++ * CSV data is converted to transactions by applying CSV conversion rules..+ etc.++ Such generated data is temporary, existing only at report time. You can+ convert it to permanent recorded data by, eg, capturing the output of+ hledger print and saving it in your journal file. This can sometimes be+ useful as a data entry aid.++ If you are curious what data is being generated and why, run hledger print+ -x --verbose-tags. -x/--explicit shows inferred amounts and --verbose-tags+ adds tags like generated-transaction (from periodic rules) and gener-+ ated-posting, modified (from auto posting rules). Similar hidden tags+ (with an underscore prefix) are always present, also, so you can always+ match such data with queries like tag:generated or tag:modified.++Forecasting+ Forecasting, or speculative future reporting, can be useful for estimating+ future balances, or for exploring different future scenarios.++ The simplest and most flexible way to do it with hledger is to manually+ record a bunch of future-dated transactions. You could keep these in a+ separate future.journal and include that with -f only when you want to see+ them.++ --forecast+ There is another way: with the --forecast option, hledger can generate tem-+ porary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according to peri-+ odic transaction rules defined in the journal. Each rule can generate mul-+ tiple recurring transactions, so by changing one rule you can change many+ forecasted transactions.++ Forecast transactions usually start after ordinary transactions end. By+ default, they begin after your latest-dated ordinary transaction, or today,+ whichever is later, and they end six months from today. (The exact rules+ are a little more complicated, and are given below.)++ This is the "forecast period", which need not be the same as the report pe-+ riod. You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the future, or to+ force forecast transactions to overlap your ordinary transactions - by giv-+ ing the --forecast option a period expression argument, like --fore-+ cast=..2099 or --forecast=2023-02-15... Note that the = is required.++ Inspecting forecast transactions+ print is the best command for inspecting and troubleshooting forecast+ transactions. Eg:++ ~ monthly from 2022-12-20 rent+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ $ hledger print --forecast --today=2023/4/21+ 2023-05-20 rent+ ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ 2023-06-20 rent+ ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ 2023-07-20 rent+ ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ 2023-08-20 rent+ ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ 2023-09-20 rent+ ; generated-transaction: ~ monthly from 2022-12-20+ assets:bank:checking+ expenses:rent $1000++ Here there are no ordinary transactions, so the forecasted transactions be-+ gin on the first occurrence after today's date. (You won't normally use+ --today; it's just to make these examples reproducible.)++ Forecast reports+ Forecast transactions affect all reports, as you would expect. Eg:++ $ hledger areg rent --forecast --today=2023/4/21+ Transactions in expenses:rent and subaccounts:+ 2023-05-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $1000+ 2023-06-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $2000+ 2023-07-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $3000+ 2023-08-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $4000+ 2023-09-20 rent as:ba:checking $1000 $5000++ $ hledger bal -M expenses --forecast --today=2023/4/21+ Balance changes in 2023-05-01..2023-09-30:++ || May Jun Jul Aug Sep+ ===============++===================================+ expenses:rent || $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000+ ---------------++-----------------------------------+ || $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000++ Forecast tags+ Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag, _gener-+ ated-transaction. So if you ever need to match forecast transactions, you+ could use tag:_generated-transaction (or just tag:generated) in a query.++ For troubleshooting, you can add the --verbose-tags flag. Then, visible+ generated-transaction tags will be added also, so you can view them with+ the print command. Their value indicates which periodic rule was responsi-+ ble.++ Forecast period, in detail+ Forecast start/end dates are chosen so as to do something useful by default+ in almost all situations, while also being flexible. Here are (with luck)+ the exact rules, to help with troubleshooting:++ The forecast period starts on:++ * the later of++ * the start date in the periodic transaction rule++ * the start date in --forecast's argument++ * otherwise (if those are not available): the later of++ * the report start date specified with -b/-p/date:++ * the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal++ * otherwise (if none of these are available): today.++ The forecast period ends on:++ * the earlier of++ * the end date in the periodic transaction rule++ * the end date in --forecast's argument++ * otherwise: the report end date specified with -e/-p/date:++ * otherwise: 180 days (~6 months) from today.++ Forecast troubleshooting+ When --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should+ help:++ * Remember to use the --forecast option.++ * Remember to have at least one periodic transaction rule in your journal.++ * Test with print --forecast.++ * Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in your periodic+ transaction rule.++ * Leave at least 2 spaces between the rule's period expression and descrip-+ tion fields.++ * Check for future-dated ordinary transactions suppressing forecasted+ transactions.++ * Try setting explicit report start and/or end dates with -b, -e, -p or+ date:++ * Try adding the -E flag to encourage display of empty periods/zero trans-+ actions.++ * Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with --fore-+ cast=START..END++ * Consult Forecast period, in detail, above.++ * Check inside the engine: add --debug=2 (eg).++Budgeting+ With the balance command's --budget report, each periodic transaction rule+ generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and goals and ac-+ tual performance can be compared. See the balance command's doc below.++ You can generate budget goals and forecast transactions at the same time,+ from the same or different periodic transaction rules: hledger bal -M+ --budget --forecast ...++ See also: Budgeting and Forecasting.++Amount formatting+ Commodity display style+ For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display+ style (symbol placement, decimal mark and digit group marks, number of dec-+ imal digits) to use in most reports. This is inferred as follows:++ First, if there's a D directive declaring a default commodity, that commod-+ ity symbol and amount format is applied to all no-symbol amounts in the+ journal.++ Then each commodity's display style is determined from its commodity direc-+ tive. We recommend always declaring commodities with commodity directives,+ since they help ensure consistent display styles and precisions, and bring+ other benefits such as error checking for commodity symbols. Here's an ex-+ ample:++ # Set display styles (and decimal marks, for parsing, if there is no decimal-mark directive)+ # 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++ But for convenience, if a commodity directive is not present, hledger in-+ fers a commodity's display styles from its amounts as they are written in+ the journal (excluding cost amounts and amounts in periodic transaction+ rules or auto posting rules). It uses++ * the symbol placement and decimal mark of the first amount seen++ * the digit group marks of the first amount with digit group marks++ * and the maximum number of decimal digits seen across all amounts.++ And as fallback if no applicable amounts are found, it would use a default+ style, like $1000.00 (symbol on the left with no space, period as decimal+ mark, and two decimal digits).++ Finally, commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style+ command line option.++ Rounding+ Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal+ places. They are displayed with their original journal precisions by print+ and print-like reports, and rounded to their display precision (the number+ of decimal digits specified by the commodity display style) by other re-+ ports. When rounding, hledger uses banker's rounding (it rounds to the+ nearest even digit). So eg 0.5 displayed with zero decimal digits appears+ as "0".++ Trailing decimal marks+ If you're wondering why your print report sometimes shows trailing decimal+ marks, with no decimal digits; it does this when showing amounts that have+ digit group marks but no decimal digits, to disambiguate them and allow+ them to be re-parsed reliably (see Decimal marks). Eg:++ commodity $1,000.00++ 2023-01-02+ (a) $1000++ $ hledger print+ 2023-01-02+ (a) $1,000.++ If this is a problem (eg when exporting to Ledger), you can avoid it by+ disabling digit group marks, eg with -c/--commodity (for each affected com-+ modity):++ $ hledger print -c '$1000.00'+ 2023-01-02+ (a) $1000++ or by forcing print to always show decimal digits, with --round:++ $ hledger print -c '$1,000.00' --round=soft+ 2023-01-02+ (a) $1,000.00++ Amount parseability+ More generally, hledger output falls into three rough categories, which+ format amounts a little bit differently to suit different consumers:++ 1. "hledger-readable output" - should be readable by hledger (and by hu-+ mans)++ * This is produced by reports that show full journal entries: print, im-+ port, close, rewrite etc.++ * It shows amounts with their original journal precisions, which may not be+ consistent from one amount to the next.++ * It adds a trailing decimal mark when needed to avoid showing ambiguous+ amounts.++ * It can be parsed reliably (by hledger and ledger2beancount at least, but+ perhaps not by Ledger..)++ 2. "human-readable output" - usually for humans++ * This is produced by all other reports.++ * It shows amounts with standard display precisions, which will be consis-+ tent within each commodity.++ * It shows ambiguous amounts unmodified.++ * It can be parsed reliably in the context of a known report (when you know+ decimals are consistently not being shown, you can assume a single mark+ is a digit group mark).++ 3. "machine-readable output" - usually for other software++ * This is produced by all reports when an output format like csv, tsv,+ json, or sql is selected.++ * It shows amounts as 1 or 2 do, but without digit group marks.++ * It can be parsed reliably (if needed, the decimal mark can be changed+ with -c/--commodity-style).++Cost reporting+ In some transactions - for example a currency conversion, or a purchase or+ sale of stock - one commodity is exchanged for another. In these transac-+ tions there is a conversion rate, also called the cost (when buying) or+ selling price (when selling). (In hledger docs we just say "cost" generi-+ cally for convenience.) With the -B/--cost flag, hledger can show amounts+ "at cost", converted to the cost's commodity.++ Recording costs+ We'll explore several ways of recording transactions involving costs.+ These are also summarised at hledger Cookbook > Cost notation.++ Costs can be recorded explicitly in the journal, using the @ UNITCOST or @@+ TOTALCOST notation described in Journal > Costs:++ Variant 1++ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars $-135+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.35 ; $1.35 per euro (unit cost)++ Variant 2++ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars $-135+ assets:euros a100 @@ $135 ; $135 total cost++ Typically, writing the unit cost (variant 1) is preferable; it can be more+ effort, requiring more attention to decimal digits; but it reveals the+ per-unit cost basis, and makes stock sales easier.++ Costs can also be left implicit, and hledger will infer the cost that is+ consistent with a balanced transaction:++ Variant 3++ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars $-135+ assets:euros a100++ Here, hledger will attach a @@ a100 cost to the first amount (you can see+ it with hledger print -x). This form looks convenient, but there are down-+ sides:++ * It sacrifices some error checking. For example, if you accidentally+ wrote a10 instead of a100, hledger would not be able to detect the mis-+ take.++ * It is sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a dif-+ ferent entry would be inferred and reports would be different.++ * The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.++ So generally this kind of entry is not recommended. You can make sure you+ have none of these by using -s (strict mode), or by running hledger check+ balanced.++ Reporting at cost+ Now when you add the -B/--cost flag to reports ("B" is from Ledger's+ -B/--basis/--cost flag), any amounts which have been annotated with costs+ will be converted to their cost's commodity (in the report output). Ie+ they will be displayed "at cost" or "at sale price".++ Some things to note:++ * Costs are attached to specific posting amounts in specific transactions,+ and once recorded they do not change. This contrasts with market prices,+ which are ambient and fluctuating.++ * Conversion to cost is performed before conversion to market value (de-+ scribed below).++ Equity conversion postings+ There is a problem with the entries above - they are not conventional Dou-+ ble Entry Bookkeeping (DEB) notation, and because of the "magical" trans-+ formation of one commodity into another, they cause an imbalance in the Ac-+ counting Equation. This shows up as a non-zero grand total in balance re-+ ports like hledger bse.++ For most hledger users, this doesn't matter in practice and can safely be+ ignored ! But if you'd like to learn more, keep reading.++ Conventional DEB uses an extra pair of equity postings to balance the+ transaction. Of course you can do this in hledger as well:++ Variant 4++ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars $-135+ assets:euros a100+ equity:conversion $135+ equity:conversion a-100++ Now the transaction is perfectly balanced according to standard DEB, and+ hledger bse's total will not be disrupted.++ And, hledger can still infer the cost for cost reporting, but it's not done+ by default - you must add the --infer-costs flag like so:++ $ hledger print --infer-costs+ 2022-01-01 one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each+ assets:dollars $-135 @@ a100+ assets:euros a100+ equity:conversion $135+ equity:conversion a-100++ $ hledger bal --infer-costs -B+ a-100 assets:dollars+ a100 assets:euros+ --------------------+ 0++ Here are some downsides of this kind of entry:++ * The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.++ * Instead of -B you must remember to type -B --infer-costs.++ * --infer-costs works only where hledger can identify the two equity:con-+ version postings and match them up with the two non-equity postings. So+ writing the journal entry in a particular format becomes more important.+ More on this below.++ Inferring equity conversion postings+ Can we go in the other direction ? Yes, if you have transactions written+ with the @/@@ cost notation, hledger can infer the missing equity postings,+ if you add the --infer-equity flag. Eg:++ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars -$135+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.35++ $ hledger print --infer-equity+ 2022-01-01+ assets:dollars $-135+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.35+ equity:conversion:$-a:a a-100+ equity:conversion:$-a:$ $135.00++ The equity account names will be "equity:conversion:A-B:A" and "equity:con-+ version:A-B:B" where A is the alphabetically first commodity symbol. You+ can customise the "equity:conversion" part by declaring an account with the+ V/Conversion account type.++ Note you will need to add account declarations for these to your journal,+ if you use check accounts or check --strict. (And unlike normal postings,+ generated equity postings do not inherit tags from account declarations.)++ Combining costs and equity conversion postings+ Finally, you can use both the @/@@ cost notation and equity postings at the+ same time. This in theory gives the best of all worlds - preserving the+ accounting equation, revealing the per-unit cost basis, and providing more+ flexibility in how you write the entry:++ Variant 5++ 2022-01-01 one hundred euros purchased at $1.35 each+ assets:dollars $-135+ equity:conversion $135+ equity:conversion a-100+ assets:euros a100 @ $1.35++ All the other variants above can (usually) be rewritten to this final form+ with:++ $ hledger print -x --infer-costs --infer-equity++ Downsides:++ * The precise format of the journal entry becomes more important. If+ hledger can't detect and match up the cost and equity postings, it will+ give a transaction balancing error.++ * The add command does not yet accept this kind of entry (#2056).++ * This is the most verbose form.++ Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings+ --infer-costs has certain requirements (unlike --infer-equity, which always+ works). It will infer costs only in transactions with:++ * Two non-equity postings, in different commodities. Their order is sig-+ nificant: the cost will be added to the first of them.++ * Two postings to equity conversion accounts, next to one another, which+ balance the two non-equity postings. This balancing is checked to the+ same precision (number of decimal places) used in the conversion post-+ ing's amount. Equity conversion accounts are:++ * any accounts declared with account type V/Conversion, or their subac-+ counts++ * otherwise, accounts named equity:conversion, equity:trade, or eq-+ uity:trading, or their subaccounts.++ And multiple such four-posting groups can coexist within a single transac-+ tion. When --infer-costs fails, it does not infer a cost in that transac-+ tion, and does not raise an error (ie, it infers costs where it can).++ Reading variant 5 journal entries, combining cost notation and equity post-+ ings, has all the same requirements. When reading such an entry fails,+ hledger raises an "unbalanced transaction" error.++ Infer cost and equity by default ?+ Should --infer-costs and --infer-equity be enabled by default ? Try using+ them always, eg with a shell alias:++ alias h="hledger --infer-equity --infer-costs"++ and let us know what problems you find.++Value reporting+ hledger can also show amounts "at market value", converted to some other+ commodity using the market price or conversion rate on a certain date.++ This is controlled by the --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] option. We also provide+ simpler -V and -X COMMODITY aliases for this, which are often sufficient.+ The market prices are declared with a special P directive, and/or they can+ be inferred from the costs recorded in transactions, by using the --in-+ fer-market-prices flag.++ -X: Value in specified commodity+ The -X COMM (or --exchange=COMM) option converts amounts to their market+ value in the specified commodity, using the market prices in effect on the+ valuation date(s), if any. (More on these in a minute.)++ Use this when you want to (eg) show everything in your base currency as far+ as possible. (Commodities for which no conversion rate can be found, will+ not be converted.)++ COMM should be the full commodity symbol or name. Remember to quote spe-+ cial shell characters, if needed. Some examples:++ * -Xa++ * -X$ (nothing after $, no quoting needed)++ * -X CNY (the space after -X is optional)++ * -X 'red apples'++ * -X 'r&r'++ -V: Value in default commodity(s)+ The -V/--market flag is a variant of -X where you don't have to specify+ COMM. Instead it tries to guess a default valuation commodity for each+ original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the valuation+ date(s).++ -V can often be a convenient shortcut for -X MYCURRENCY, but not always;+ depending on your data it could guess multiple valuation commodities. Usu-+ ally you want to convert to a single commodity, so it's better to use -X,+ unless you're sure -V is doing what you want.++ Valuation date+ Market prices can change from day to day. hledger will use the prices on a+ particular valuation date (or on more than one date). By default hledger+ uses "end" dates for valuation. More specifically:++ * For single period reports (including normal print and register reports):++ * If an explicit report end date is specified, that is used.++ * Otherwise the latest transaction date or non-future P directive date is+ used.++ * For multiperiod reports, each period is valued on its last day.++ This can be customised with the --value option described below, which can+ select either "then", "end", "now", or "custom" dates.++ Finding market price+ 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 costs.++ 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 possibili-+ ties, it will give up (with a "gave up" message visible in --debug=2 out-+ put). That limit is currently 1000.++ Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not converted.++ --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 costs as additional market prices (as Ledger does)+ ? 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. 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 Value reporting 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.)++ * multicommodity transactions with equity postings, if cost is inferred+ with --infer-costs.++ There is a limitation (bug) currently: when a valuation commodity is not+ specified, prices inferred with --infer-market-prices do not help select a+ default valuation commodity, as P prices would. So conversion might not+ happen because no valuation commodity was detected (--debug=2 will show+ this). To be safe, specify the valuation commmodity, eg:++ * -X EUR --infer-market-prices, not -V --infer-market-prices++ * --value=then,EUR --infer-market-prices, not --value=then --infer-mar-+ ket-prices++ Signed costs and market prices can be confusing. For reference, here is+ the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25. (If you think it should work+ differently, see #1870.)++ 2022-01-01 Positive Unit prices+ a A 1+ b B -1 @ A 1++ 2022-01-01 Positive Total prices+ a A 1+ b B -1 @@ A 1+++ 2022-01-02 Negative unit prices+ a A 1+ b B 1 @ A -1++ 2022-01-02 Negative total prices+ a A 1+ b B 1 @@ A -1+++ 2022-01-03 Double Negative unit prices+ a A -1+ b B -1 @ A -1++ 2022-01-03 Double Negative total prices+ a A -1+ b B -1 @@ A -1++ All of the transactions above are considered balanced (and on each day, the+ two transactions are considered equivalent). Here are the market prices+ inferred for B:++ $ hledger -f- --infer-market-prices prices+ P 2022-01-01 B A 1+ P 2022-01-01 B A 1.0+ P 2022-01-02 B A -1+ P 2022-01-02 B A -1.0+ P 2022-01-03 B A -1+ P 2022-01-03 B A -1.0++ 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 fol-+ lows, 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 be-+ fore 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 con-+ vert, and to what.++ * If you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag,+ costs determine it.++ Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not converted.++ --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 un-+ specified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod reports, mar-+ ket 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.++ Valuation examples+ Here are some quick examples of -V:++ ; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1+ P 2016/11/01 a $1.10++ ; purchase some euros on nov 3+ 2016/11/3+ assets:euros a100+ assets:checking++ ; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21+ P 2016/12/21 a $1.03++ How many euros do I have ?++ $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros+ a100 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, de-+ faults to today)++ $ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V+ $103.00 assets:euros++ 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, the latest transaction date or price date+ is used as valuation date (2000-04-01):++ $ hledger -f- print --value=end+ 2000-01-01+ (a) 3 B++ 2000-02-01+ (a) 3 B++ 2000-03-01+ (a) 3 B++ The value today is the same (the 2000-04-01 price is still in effect):++ $ 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++ 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.++ Related: #1625++ Effect of valuation on reports+ Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect each part of+ hledger's reports. It may be useful when troubleshooting. If you find+ problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible example. Re-+ lated: #329, #1083.++ First, a quick glossary:++ cost calculated using price(s) recorded in the transaction(s).++ value market value using available market price declarations, or the un-+ changed 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 to-+ day.++ report interval+ a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the re-+ port's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many subperiods).++ Report -B, --cost -V, -X --value=then --value=end --value=DATE,+ type --value=now+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ print+ posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at+ amounts port end or date port or DATE/today+ today journal end+ balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged+ asser-+ tions/as-+ signments++ register+ starting cost value at re- valued at day value at re- value at+ balance port or each historical port or DATE/today+ (-H) journal end posting was made journal end+ starting cost value at day valued at day value at day value at+ balance before re- each historical before re- DATE/today+ (-H) with port or posting was made port or+ report journal journal+ interval start start+ posting cost value at re- value at posting value at re- value at+ amounts port or date port or DATE/today+ journal end journal end+ summary summarised value at pe- sum of postings value at pe- value at+ posting cost riod ends in interval, val- riod ends DATE/today+ amounts ued at interval+ with re- start+ port in-+ terval+ running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average+ total/av- of displayed of displayed displayed values of displayed of displayed+ erage values values values values++ balance+ (bs, bse,+ cf, is)+ balance sums of value at re- value at posting value at re- value at+ changes costs port end or date port or DATE/today of+ 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+ (--bud-+ get)+ grand to- sum of dis- sum of dis- sum of displayed sum of dis- sum of dis-+ tal played val- played val- valued played val- played values+ ues ues ues++ balance+ (bs, bse,+ cf, is)+ with re-+ port in-+ terval+ starting sums of value at re- sums of values of value at re- sums of post-+ balances costs of port start postings before port start ings before+ (-H) postings be- of sums of report start at of sums of report start+ fore report all postings respective post- all postings+ start before re- ing dates before re-+ port start port start+ balance sums of same as sums of values of balance value at+ changes costs of --value=end postings in pe- change in DATE/today of+ (bal, is, postings in riod at respec- each period, sums of post-+ bs period tive posting valued at ings+ --change, dates period ends+ cf+ --change)+ end bal- sums of same as sums of values of period end value at+ ances costs of --value=end postings from be- balances, DATE/today of+ (bal -H, postings fore period start valued at sums of post-+ is --H, from before to period end at period ends ings+ bs, cf) report start respective post-+ to period ing dates+ end+ budget like balance like balance like balance like bal- like balance+ amounts changes/end changes/end changes/end bal- ances changes/end+ (--bud- balances balances ances balances+ get)+ row to- sums, aver- sums, aver- sums, averages of sums, aver- sums, aver-+ tals, row ages of dis- ages of dis- displayed values ages of dis- ages of dis-+ averages played val- played val- played val- played values+ (-T, -A) ues ues ues+ column sums of dis- sums of dis- sums of displayed sums of dis- sums of dis-+ totals played val- played val- values played val- played values+ ues ues ues+ grand to- sum, average sum, average sum, average of sum, average sum, average+ tal, of column of column column totals of column of column to-+ grand av- totals totals totals tals+ erage+++ --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero+ starting balance.++PART 4: COMMANDS+ Here are hledger's standard subcommands. You can list these by running+ hledger. If you have installed more add-on commands, they also will be+ listed.++ In the following command docs, each command's specific options are shown.+ Most commands also support the general options described above, though some+ of them might have no effect. (Usually if there's a sensible way for a+ general option to affect a command, it will.) You can list all of a com-+ mand's options by running hledger CMD -h.++ Help commands++ * commands - show the hledger commands list (default)++ * demo - show small hledger demos in the terminal++ * help - show the hledger manual with info, man, or pager++ User interface commands++ * repl - run commands from an interactive prompt++ * run - run commands from a script++ * ui - (if installed) run hledger's terminal UI++ * web - (if installed) run hledger's web UI++ Data entry commands++ * add - add transactions using terminal prompts++ * import - add new transactions from other files, eg CSV files++ Basic report commands++ * accounts - show account names++ * codes - show transaction codes++ * commodities - show commodity/currency symbols++ * descriptions - show transaction descriptions++ * files - show input file paths++ * notes - show note parts of transaction descriptions++ * payees - show payee parts of transaction descriptions++ * prices - show market prices++ * stats - show journal statistics++ * tags - show tag names++ Standard report commands++ * print - show transactions or export journal data++ * aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account++ * register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running total++ * 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++ Advanced report commands++ * balance (bal) - show balance changes, end balances, budgets, gains..++ * roi - show return on investments++ Chart commands++ * activity - show bar charts of posting counts per period++ Data generation commands++ * close - generate balance-zeroing/restoring transactions++ * rewrite - generate auto postings, like print --auto++ Maintenance commands++ * check - check for various kinds of error in the data++ * diff - compare account transactions in two journal files++ * setup - check and show the status of the hledger installation++ * test - run self tests++ Next, these commands are described in detail.++Help commands+ commands+ Show the hledger commands list.++ Flags:+ --builtin show only builtin commands, not addons++ demo+ Play demos of hledger usage in the terminal, if asciinema is installed.++ Flags:+ -s --speed=SPEED playback speed (1 is original speed, .5 is half, 2+ is double, etc (default: 2))++ Run this command with no argument to list the demos. To play a demo, write+ its number or a prefix or substring of its title. Tips:++ Make your terminal window large enough to see the demo clearly.++ Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred playback speed, eg+ -s4 to play at 4x original speed or -s.5 to play at half speed. The de-+ fault speed is 2x.++ During playback, several keys are available: SPACE to pause/unpause, . to+ step forward (while paused), CTRL-c quit.++ Examples:++ $ hledger demo # list available demos+ $ hledger demo 1 # play the first demo at default speed (2x)+ $ hledger demo install -s4 # play the "install" demo at 4x speed++ This command is experimental: there aren't many useful demos yet.++ help+ Show the hledger user manual with info, man, or a pager. With a (case in-+ sensitive) TOPIC argument, try to open it at that section heading.++ Flags:+ -i show the manual with info+ -m show the manual with man+ -p show the manual with $PAGER or less+ (less is always used if TOPIC is specified)++ This command shows the hledger manual built in to your hledger executable.+ It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the terminal to a web+ browser, or when the appropriate hledger manual or viewers are not in-+ stalled properly on your system.++ By default it chooses the best viewer found in $PATH, trying in this order:+ info, man, $PAGER, less, more, stdout. (If a TOPIC is specified, $PAGER+ and more are not tried.) You can force the use of info, man, or a pager+ with the -i, -m, or -p flags. If no viewer can be found, or if running+ non-interactively, it just prints the manual to stdout.++ When using info, TOPIC can match either the full heading or a prefix. If+ your info --version is < 6, you'll need to upgrade it, eg with 'brew in-+ stall texinfo' on mac.++ When using man or less, TOPIC must match the full heading. For a prefix+ match, you can write 'TOPIC.*'.++ Examples++ $ hledger help -h # show the help command's usage+ $ hledger help # show the manual with info, man or $PAGER+ $ hledger help 'time periods' # show the manual's "Time periods" topic+ $ hledger help 'time periods' -m # use man, even if info is installed++User interface commands+ repl+ Start an interactive prompt, where you can run any of hledger's commands.+ Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ This command is experimental and could change in the future.++ hledger repl starts a read-eval-print loop (REPL) where you can enter com-+ mands interactively. As with the run command, each input file (or each in-+ put file/input options combination) is parsed just once, so commands will+ run more quickly than if you ran them individually at the command line.++ Also like run, the input file(s) specified for the repl command will be the+ default input for all interactive commands. You can override this tem-+ porarily by specifying an -f option in particular commands. But note that+ commands will not see any changes made to input files (eg by add) until you+ exit and restart the REPL.++ The command syntax is the same as with run:++ * enter one hledger command at a time, without the usual hledger first word++ * empty lines and comment text from # to end of line are ignored++ * use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed++ * type exit or quit or control-D to exit the REPL.++ While it is running, the REPL remembers your command history, and you can+ navigate in the usual ways:++ * Keypad or Emacs navigation keys to edit the current command line++ * UP/DOWN or control-P/control-N to step back/forward through history++ * control-R to search for a past command++ * TAB to complete file paths.++ Generally repl command lines should feel much like the normal hledger CLI,+ but you may find differences. repl is a little stricter; eg it requires+ full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the commands+ list).++ The commands and help commands, and the command help flags (CMD --tldr, CMD+ -h/--help, CMD --info, CMD --man), can be useful.++ You can type control-C to cancel a long-running command (but only once;+ typing it a second time will exit the REPL).++ And in most shells you can type control-Z to temporarily exit to the shell+ (and then fg to return to the REPL).++ Examples+ Start the REPL and enter some commands:++ $ hledger repl+ Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.+ % stats+ Main file : .../2025.journal+ ...+ % stats -f 2024/2024.journal+ Main file : .../2024.journal+ ...+ % stats+ Main file : .../2025.journal+ ...++ or:++ $ hledger repl -f some.journal+ Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.+ % bs+ ...+ % print -b 'last week'+ ...+ % bs -f other.journal+ ...++ run+ Run a sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line argu-+ ments. Data files are parsed just once, so the commands run faster.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ This command is experimental and could change in the future.++ You can use run in three ways:++ * hledger run -- CMD1 -- CMD2 -- CMD3 - read commands from the command+ line, separated by --++ * hledger run SCRIPTFILE1 SCRIPTFILE2 - read commands from one or more+ files++ * cat SCRIPTFILE1 | hledger run - read commands from standard input.++ run first loads the input file(s) specified by LEDGER_FILE or by -f op-+ tions, in the usual way. Then it runs each command in turn, each using the+ same input data. But if you want a particular command to use different in-+ put, you can specify an -f option within that command. This will override+ (not add to) the default input, just for that command.++ Each input file (more precisely, each combination of input file and input+ options) is parsed only once. This means that commands will not see any+ changes made to these files, until the next run. But the commands will run+ more quickly than if run individually (typically about twice as fast).++ Command scripts, whether in a file or written on the command line, have a+ simple syntax:++ * each line may contain a single hledger command and its arguments, without+ the usual hledger first word++ * empty lines are ignored++ * text from # to end of line is a comment, and ignored++ * you can use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed, as on+ the command line++ * these extra commands are available: echo TEXT prints some text, and exit+ or quit ends the run.++ On unix systems you can use #!/usr/bin/env hledger run in the first line of+ a command file to make it a runnable script. If that gives an error, use+ #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger run.++ It's ok to use the run command recursively within a command script.++ You may find some differences in behaviour between run command lines and+ normal hledger command lines. run is a little stricter; eg it requires+ full command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the commands+ list), and command options must be written after the command name.++ Examples+ Run commands from the command line:++ hledger -f some.journal run -- balance assets --depth 2 -- balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose -- stats++ This would load some.journal, run balance assets --depth 2 on it, then run+ balance liabilities --depth 3 --transpose on /some/other.journal, and fi-+ nally run stats on some.journal++ Run commands from standard input:++ (echo "files"; echo "stats") | hledger -f some.journal run++ Run commands as a script:++ $ cat report+ #!/usr/bin/env -S hledger run -f some.journal++ echo "List of accounts in some.journal"+ accounts++ echo "Assets of some.journal"+ balance assets --depth 2++ echo "Liabilities from /some/other.journal"+ balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose++ echo "Commands from another.script, applied to another.journal"+ run -f another.journal another.script++ $ chmod +x report+ $ ./report+ List of accounts in some.journal+ ...++ ui+ Runs hledger-ui (if installed).++ web+ Runs hledger-web (if installed).++Data entry commands+ add+ Add new transactions to a journal file, with interactive prompting.++ Flags:+ --no-new-accounts don't allow creating new accounts++ Many hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or gen-+ erate 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 main journal file (which should be in journal for-+ mat). Existing transactions are not changed. This is one of the few+ hledger commands that writes to the journal file (see also import).++ 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 con-+ trol-d or control-c to exit.++ Features:++ * add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by descrip-+ tion) 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, payees/de-+ scriptions, dates (yesterday, today, tomorrow). If the input area is+ empty, it will insert the default value.++ * 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 sup-+ ports it.++ Notes:++ * If you enter a number with no commodity symbol, and you have declared a+ default commodity with a D directive, you might expect add to add this+ symbol for you. It does not do this; we assume that if you are using a D+ directive you prefer not to see the commodity symbol repeated on amounts+ in the journal.++ * add creates entries in journal format; it won't work with timeclock or+ timedot files.++ * There is a known issue on Windows if this hledger version is built from+ stackage: the prompts will show ANSI junk instead of colours (#2410).+ You can avoid this by using official hledger release binaries or by+ building it with haskeline >=0.8.4; or by running add with --color=no,+ perhaps configured in your config file.++ Examples:++ * Record new transactions, saving to the default journal file:++ hledger add++ * Add transactions to 2024.journal, but also load 2023.journal for comple-+ tions:++ hledger add --file 2024.journal --file 2023.journal++ * Provide answers for the first four prompts:++ hledger add today 'best buy' expenses:supplies '$20'++ There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html.++ add and balance assertions+ Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing AMOUNT =+ BALANCE when asked for an amount. Eg 100 = 500.++ Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance as-+ sertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make any of+ them fail. You can run add with -I/--ignore-assertions to disable balance+ assertion checking.++ add and balance assignments+ Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing = BALANCE+ (or ==, =* etc) when asked for an amount. The missing amount will be cal-+ culated automatically.++ add normally won't let you add a new posting which is dated earlier than an+ existing balance assignment. (Because when add runs, existing balance as-+ signments have already been calculated and converted to amounts and balance+ assertions.) You can allow it by disabling balance assertion checking with+ -I.++ import+ Import new transactions from one or more data files to the main journal.++ Flags:+ --catchup just mark all transactions as already imported+ --dry-run just show the transactions to be imported++ This command detects new transactions in one or more data files specified+ as arguments, and appends them to the main journal.++ You can import from any input file format hledger supports, but CSV/SSV/TSV+ files, downloaded from financial institutions, are the most common import+ source.++ The import destination is the default journal file, or another specified in+ the usual way with $LEDGER_FILE or -f/--file. It should be in journal for-+ mat.++ Examples:++ $ hledger import bank1-checking.csv bank1-savings.csv++ $ hledger import *.csv++ Import dry run+ It's useful to preview the import by running first with --dry-run, to san-+ ity check the range of dates being imported, and to check the effect of+ your conversion rules if converting from CSV. Eg:++ $ hledger import bank.csv --dry-run++ The dry run output is valid journal format, so hledger can re-parse it. If+ the output is large, you could show just the uncategorised transactions+ like so:++ $ hledger import --dry-run bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown++ You could also run this repeatedly to see the effect of edits to your con-+ version rules:++ $ watchexec -- "hledger import --dry-run bank.csv | hledger -f- -I print unknown"++ Once the conversion and dates look good enough to import to your journal,+ perhaps with some manual fixups to follow, you would do the actual import:++ $ hledger import bank.csv++ Overlap detection+ Reading CSV files is built in to hledger, and not specific to import; so+ you could also import by doing hledger -f bank.csv print >>$LEDGER_FILE.++ But import is easier and provides some advantages. The main one is that it+ avoids re-importing transactions it has seen on previous runs. This means+ you don't have to worry about overlapping data in successive downloads of+ your bank CSV; just download and import as often as you like, and only the+ new transactions will be imported each time.++ We don't call this "deduplication", as it's generally not possible to reli-+ ably detect duplicates in bank CSV. Instead, import remembers the latest+ date processed previously in each CSV file (saving it in a hidden file),+ and skips any records prior to that date. This works well for most+ real-world CSV, where:++ 1. the data file name is stable (does not change) across imports++ 2. the item dates are stable across imports++ 3. the order of same-date items is stable across imports++ 4. the newest items have the newest dates++ (Occasional violations of 2-4 are often harmless; you can reduce the chance+ of disruption by downloading and importing more often.)++ Overlap detection is automatic, and shouldn't require much attention from+ you, except perhaps at first import (see below). But here's how it works:++ * For each FILE being imported from:++ 1. hledger reads a file named .latest.FILE file in the same directory, if+ any. This file contains the latest record date previously imported+ from FILE, in YYYY-MM-DD format. If multiple records with that date+ were imported, the date is repeated on N lines.++ 2. hledger reads records from FILE. If a latest date was found in step+ 1, any records before that date, and the first N records on that date,+ are skipped.++ * After a successful import from all FILEs, without error and without+ --dry-run, hledger updates each FILE's .latest.FILE for next time.++ If this goes wrong, it's relatively easy to repair:++ * You'll notice it before import when you preview with import --dry-run.++ * Or after import when you try to reconcile your hledger account balances+ with your bank.++ * hledger print -f FILE.csv will show all recently downloaded transactions.+ Compare these with your journal. Copy/paste if needed.++ * Update your conversion rules and print again, if needed.++ * You can manually update or remove the .latest file, or use import+ --catchup FILE.++ * Download and import more often, eg twice a week, at least while you are+ learning. It's easier to review and troubleshoot when there are fewer+ transactions.++ First import+ The first time you import from a file, when no corresponding .latest file+ has been created yet, all of the records will be imported.++ But perhaps you have been entering the data manually, so you know that all+ of these transactions are already recorded in the journal. In this case+ you can run hledger import --catchup once. This will create a .latest file+ containing the latest CSV record date, so that none of those records will+ be re-imported.++ Or, if you know that some but not all of the transactions are in the jour-+ nal, you can create the .latest file yourself. Eg, let's say you previ-+ ously recorded foobank transactions up to 2024-10-31 in the journal. Then+ in the directory where you'll be saving foobank.csv, you would create a+ .latest.foobank.csv file containing++ 2024-10-31++ Or if you had three foobank transactions recorded with that date, you would+ repeat the date that many times:++ 2024-10-31+ 2024-10-31+ 2024-10-31++ Then hledger import foobank.csv [--dry-run] will import only the newer+ records.++ Importing balance assignments+ Journal entries added by import will have all posting amounts made explicit+ (like print -x).++ This means that any balance assignments in the imported entries would need+ to be evaluated. But this generally isn't possible, as the main file's ac-+ count balances are not visible during import. So try to avoid generating+ balance assignments with your CSV rules, or importing from a journal that+ contains balance assignments. (Balance assignments are best avoided any-+ way.)++ But if you must use them, eg because your CSV includes only balances: you+ can import with print, which leaves implicit amounts implicit. (print can+ also do overlap detection like import, with the --new flag):++ $ hledger print --new -f bank.csv >> $LEDGER_FILE++ (If you think import should preserve implicit balances, please test that+ and send a pull request.)++ Import and commodity styles+ Amounts in entries added by import will be formatted according to the jour-+ nal's canonical commodity styles, as declared by commodity directives or+ inferred from the journal's amounts.++ Related: CSV > Amount decimal places.++ Import archiving+ When importing from a CSV rules file (hledger import bank.rules), you can+ use the archive rule to enable automatic archiving of the data file. After+ a successful import, the data file (specified by source) will be moved to+ an archive folder (data/, next to the rules file, auto-created), and re-+ named similar to the rules file, with a date. This can be useful for trou-+ bleshooting, detecting variations in your banks' CSV data, regenerating en-+ tries with improved rules, etc.++ The archive rule also causes import to handle source glob patterns differ-+ ently: when there are multiple matched files, it will pick the oldest, not+ the newest.++ Import special cases+ Deduplication+ Here are two kinds of "deduplication" which import does not handle (and+ should not, because these can happen legitimately in financial data):++ * Two or more of the new CSV records are identical, and generate identical+ new journal entries.++ * A new CSV record generates a journal entry identical to one(s) already in+ the journal.++ Varying file name+ If you have a download whose file name varies, you could rename it to a+ fixed name after each download. Or you could use a CSV source rule with a+ suitable glob pattern, and import from the .rules file.++ Multiple versions+ Say you download bank.csv, import it, but forget to delete it from your+ downloads folder. The next time you download it, your web browser will+ save it as (eg) bank (2).csv. The source rule's glob patterns are for just+ this situation: instead of specifying source bank.csv, specify source+ bank*.csv. Then hledger -f bank.rules CMD or hledger import bank.rules+ will automatically pick the newest matched file (bank (2).csv).++ Alternately, what if you download, but forget to import or delete, then+ download again ? Now each of bank.csv and bank (2).csv might contain data+ that's not in the other, and not in your journal. In this case, it's best+ to import each of them in turn, oldest first (otherwise, overlap detection+ could cause new records to be skipped). Enabling import archiving ensures+ this. Then hledger import bank.rules; hledger import bank.rules will im-+ port and archive first bank.csv, then bank (2).csv.++Basic report commands+ accounts+ List the account names used or declared in the journal.++ Flags:+ -u --used list accounts used+ -d --declared list accounts declared+ --undeclared list accounts used but not declared+ --unused list accounts declared but not used+ --find list the first account matched by the first+ argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)+ --directives show as account directives, for use in journals+ --locations also show where accounts were declared+ --types also show account types when known+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default)+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree+ --drop=N flat mode: omit N leading account name parts++ This command lists account names - all of them by default, or just the ones+ which have been used in transactions (-u/--used), or declared with account+ directives (-d/--declared), or used but not declared (--undeclared), or de-+ clared but not used (--unused), or just the first one matched by a pattern+ (--find, returning a non-zero exit code if it fails).++ You can add query arguments to select a subset of transactions or accounts.++ With --directives, it shows valid account directives which could be pasted+ into a journal file. This is useful together with --undeclared when updat-+ ing your account declarations to satisfy hledger check accounts.++ With --locations, it also shows the file and line number of each account's+ declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration order; these may+ be useful when troubleshooting account display order.++ With --types, it also shows each account's type, if it's known. (See De-+ claring accounts > Account types.)++ 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++ $ hledger accounts --undeclared --directives >> $LEDGER_FILE+ $ hledger check accounts++ codes+ List the codes seen in transactions, in the order parsed.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ This command prints the value of each transaction's code field, in the or-+ der 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:++ 2022/1/1 (123) Supermarket+ Food $5.00+ Checking++ 2022/1/2 (124) Post Office+ Postage $8.32+ Checking++ 2022/1/3 Supermarket+ Food $11.23+ Checking++ 2022/1/4 (126) Post Office+ Postage $3.21+ Checking++ $ hledger codes+ 123+ 124+ 126++ $ hledger codes -E+ 123+ 124++ 126++ commodities+ List the commodity symbols used or declared in the journal.++ Flags:+ --used list commodities used+ --declared list commodities declared+ --undeclared list commodities used but not declared+ --unused list commodities declared but not used+ --find list the first commodity matched by the first+ argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)++ This command lists commodity symbols/names - all of them by default, or+ just the ones which have been used in transactions or P directives, or de-+ clared with commodity directives, or used but not declared, or declared but+ not used, or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, return-+ ing a non-zero exit code if it fails).++ You can add cur: query arguments to further limit the commodities.++ descriptions+ List the unique descriptions used in transactions.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ 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++ files+ List all files included in the journal. With a REGEX argument, only file+ names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ notes+ List the unique notes that appear in transactions.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in alpha-+ betic 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++ payees+ List the payee/payer names used or declared in the journal.++ Flags:+ --used list payees used+ --declared list payees declared+ --undeclared list payees used but not declared+ --unused list payees declared but not used+ --find list the first payee matched by the first+ argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)++ This command lists unique payee/payer names - all of them by default, or+ just the ones which have been used in transaction descriptions, or declared+ with payee directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not used,+ or just the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, returning a+ non-zero exit code if it fails).++ The payee/payer name 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 or payees.++ Example:++ $ hledger payees+ Store Name+ Gas Station+ Person A++ prices+ Print the market prices declared with P directives. With --infer-mar-+ ket-prices, also show any additional prices inferred from costs. With+ --show-reverse, also show additional prices inferred by reversing known+ prices.++ Flags:+ --show-reverse also show the prices inferred by reversing known+ prices++ Price amounts are always displayed with their full precision, except for+ reverse prices which are limited to 8 decimal digits.++ Prices can be filtered by a date:, cur: or amt: query.++ Generally if you run this command with --infer-market-prices --show-re-+ verse, it will show the same prices used internally to calculate value re-+ ports. But if in doubt, you can inspect those directly by running the+ value report with --debug=2.++ stats+ Show journal and performance statistics.++ Flags:+ -1 show a single line of output+ -v --verbose show more detailed output+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE.++ The stats command shows summary information for the whole journal, or a+ matched part of it. With a reporting interval, it shows a report for each+ report period.++ It also shows some performance statistics:++ * how long the program ran for++ * the number of transactions processed per second++ * the peak live memory in use by the program to do its work++ * the peak allocated memory as seen by the program++ By default, the output is reasonably discreet; it reveals the main file+ name, your activity level, and the speed of your machine.++ With -v/--verbose, more details are shown: the full paths of all files, and+ the names of the commodities you work with.++ With -1, only one line of output is shown, in a machine-friendly tab-sepa-+ rated format: the program version, the main journal file name, and the per-+ formance stats,++ The run time of stats is similar to that of a balance report.++ Example:++ $ hledger stats -f examples/1ktxns-1kaccts.journal+ Main file : .../1ktxns-1kaccts.journal+ Included files : 0+ Txns span : 2000-01-01 to 2002-09-27 (1000 days)+ Last txn : 2002-09-26 (7827 days ago)+ Txns : 1000 (1.0 per day)+ Txns last 30 days : 0 (0.0 per day)+ Txns last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)+ Payees/descriptions : 1000+ Accounts : 1000 (depth 10)+ Commodities : 26+ Market prices : 1000+ Runtime stats : 0.12 s elapsed, 8266 txns/s, 4 MB live, 16 MB alloc++ $ hledger stats -1 -f examples/10ktxns-1kaccts.journal+ 1.50.99-g0835a2485-20251119, mac-aarch64 10ktxns-1kaccts.journal 0.66 s elapsed 15244 txns/s 28 MB live 86 MB alloc++ This command supports the -o/--output-file option (but not -O/--output-for-+ mat).++ tags+ List the tag names used or declared in the journal, or their values.++ Flags:+ --used list tags used+ --declared list tags declared+ --undeclared list tags used but not declared+ --unused list tags declared but not used+ --find list the first tag whose name is matched by the+ first argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)+ --values list tag values instead of tag names+ --parsed show them in the order they were parsed (mostly),+ including duplicates++ This command lists tag names - all of them by default, or just the ones+ which have been used on transactions/postings/accounts, or declared with+ tag directives, or used but not declared, or declared but not used, or just+ the first one matched by a pattern (with --find, returning a non-zero exit+ code if it fails).++ Note this command's non-standard first argument: it is a case-insensitive+ infix regular expression for matching tag names, which limits the tags+ shown. Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which limit+ the transactions, postings, or accounts providing tags.++ With --values, the tags' unique non-empty values are listed instead.++ With -E/--empty, blank/empty values are also shown.++ With --parsed, tags or values are shown in the order they were parsed, with+ duplicates included. (Except, tags from account declarations are always+ shown first.)++ Remember that accounts also acquire tags from their parents; postings also+ acquire tags from their account and transaction; and transactions also ac-+ quire tags from their postings.++Standard report commands+ print+ Show full journal entries, representing transactions.++ Flags:+ -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly+ --invert display all amounts with reversed sign+ --locations add tags showing file paths and line numbers+ -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent transaction with+ description closest to DESC+ --new show only newer-dated transactions added in each+ file since last run+ --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when+ displaying amounts ?+ none - show original decimal digits,+ as in journal (default)+ soft - just add or remove decimal zeros+ to match precision+ hard - round posting amounts to precision+ (can unbalance transactions)+ all - also round cost amounts to precision+ (can unbalance transactions)+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,+ with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by+ hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, beancount, csv, tsv, html, fods, json, sql.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the+ journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date).++ Directives and inter-transaction comments are not shown, currently. This+ means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it to re-+ format/regenerate your journal you should take care to also copy over the+ directives and inter-transaction comments.++ Eg:++ $ hledger print -f examples/sample.journal date:200806+ 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++ print amount explicitness+ Normally, whether posting amounts are implicit or explicit is preserved.+ For example, when an amount is omitted in the journal, it will not appear+ in the output. Similarly, if a conversion cost is implied but not written,+ it will not appear in the output.++ You can use the -x/--explicit flag to force explicit display of all amounts+ and costs. This can be useful for troubleshooting or for making your jour-+ nal more readable and robust against data entry errors. -x is also implied+ by using any of -B,-V,-X,--value.++ The -x/--explicit flag will cause any postings with a multi-commodity+ amount (which can arise when a multi-commodity transaction has an implicit+ amount) to be split into multiple single-commodity postings, keeping the+ output parseable.++ print alignment+ Amounts are shown right-aligned within each transaction (but not aligned+ across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger-mode in Emacs).++ print amount style+ Amounts will be displayed mostly in their commodity's display style, with+ standardised symbol placement, decimal mark, and digit group marks. This+ does not apply to their decimal digits; print normally shows the same deci-+ mal digits that are recorded in each journal entry.++ You can override the decimal precisions with print's special --round option+ (since 1.32). --round tries to show amounts with their commodities' stan-+ dard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly:++ * --round=none show amounts with original precisions (default)++ * --round=soft add/remove decimal zeros in amounts (except costs)++ * --round=hard round amounts (except costs), possibly hiding significant+ digits++ * --round=all round all amounts and costs++ soft is good for non-lossy cleanup, displaying more consistent decimals+ where possible, without making entries unbalanced.++ hard or all can be good for stronger cleanup, when decimal rounding is+ wanted. Note rounding can produce unbalanced journal entries, perhaps re-+ quiring manual fixup.++ print parseability+ Normally, print's output is a valid hledger journal, which you can "pipe"+ to a second hledger command for further processing. This is sometimes con-+ venient for achieving certain kinds of query (though less needed now that+ queries have become more powerful):++ # 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++ But here are some things which can cause print's output to become un-+ parseable:++ * --round (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing.++ * Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance asser-+ tions, or balance assignments.++ * Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance assign-+ ments.++ * Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings.++ * --infer-costs or --infer-equity can generate too-complex redundant costs.++ * Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance assertions+ involving non-date-ordered transactions (and same-day postings) could be+ disrupted.++ print, other features+ With -B/--cost, amounts with costs are shown converted to cost.++ With --invert, posting amounts are shown with their sign flipped. It could+ be useful if you have accidentally recorded some transactions with the+ wrong signs.++ With --new, print shows 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.)++ With -m DESC/--match=DESC, print shows one recent transaction whose de-+ scription is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least two char-+ acters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction will be shown+ and the program exit code will be non-zero.++ With --locations, print adds the source file and line number to every+ transaction, as a tag.++ print output format+ This command also supports the output destination and output format options+ The output formats supported are txt, beancount (Added in 1.32), csv, tsv+ (Added in 1.32), json and sql.++ The beancount format tries to produce Beancount-compatible output, as fol-+ lows:++ * Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to cleared+ (*) status.++ * Transactions' payee and note are backslash-escaped and double-quote-es-+ caped and wrapped in double quotes.++ * Transaction tags are copied to Beancount #tag format.++ * Commodity symbols are converted to upper case, and a small number of cur-+ rency symbols like $ are converted to the corresponding currency names.++ * Account name parts are capitalised and unsupported characters are re-+ placed with -. If an account name part does not begin with a letter, or+ if the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, or Ex-+ penses, an error is raised. (Use --alias options to bring your accounts+ into compliance.)++ * An open directive is generated for each account used, on the earliest+ transaction date.++ Some limitations:++ * Balance assertions are removed.++ * Balance assignments become missing amounts.++ * Virtual and balanced virtual postings become regular postings.++ * Directives are not converted.++ 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 re-+ ordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a different order,+ etc.)++ * The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount" (nu-+ meric 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.)++ aregister+ (areg)++ Show the transactions and running balances in one account, with each trans-+ action on one line.++ Flags:+ --txn-dates filter strictly by transaction date, not posting+ date. Warning: this can show a wrong running+ balance.+ --no-elide don't show only 2 commodities per amount+ --cumulative accumulation mode: show running total from report+ start date+ -H --historical accumulation mode: show historical running+ total/balance (includes postings before report+ start date) (default)+ --invert display all amounts with reversed sign+ --drop=N omit N leading account name parts+ --heading=YN show heading row above table: yes (default) or no+ -w --width=N set output width (default: terminal width). -wN,M+ sets description width as well.+ --align-all guarantee alignment across all lines (slower)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ 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 included in the+ running balance (--historical mode is the default). You can suppress this+ behaviour using the --cumulative option.++ This is a more "real world", bank-like view than the register command+ (which shows individual postings, possibly from multiple accounts, not nec-+ essarily in historical mode). As a quick rule of thumb:++ * aregister is best when reconciling real-world asset/liability accounts++ * register is best when reviewing individual revenues/expenses.++ Note this command's non-standard, and required, first argument; it speci-+ fies the account whose register will be shown. You can write the account's+ name, or (to save typing) a case-insensitive infix regular expression+ matching the name, which selects the alphabetically first matched account.+ (For example, if you have assets:personal checking and assets:business+ checking, hledger areg checking would select assets:business checking.)++ Transactions involving subaccounts of this account will also be shown.+ aregister ignores depth limits, so its final total will always match a his-+ torical balance report with similar arguments.++ Any additional arguments are standard query arguments, which will limit 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 dur-+ ing 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 (prob-+ ably 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.++ For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first 1000+ lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause visual+ discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to ensure per-+ fect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all+ flag.++ By default, aregister shows a heading above the data. However, when re-+ porting in a language different from English, it is easier to omit this+ heading and prepend your own one. For this purpose, use the --heading=no+ option.++ This command also supports the output destination and output format op-+ tions. The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32),+ html, fods (Added in 1.41) and json.++ aregister and posting dates+ aregister always shows one line (and date and amount) per transaction. But+ sometimes transactions have postings with different dates. Also, not all+ of a transaction's postings may be within the report period. To resolve+ this, aregister shows the earliest of the transaction's date and posting+ dates that is in-period, and the sum of the in-period postings. In other+ words it will show a combined line item with just the earliest date, and+ the running balance will (temporarily, until the transaction's last post-+ ing) be inaccurate. Use register -H if you need to see the individual+ postings.++ There is also a --txn-dates flag, which filters strictly by transaction+ date, ignoring posting dates. This too can cause an inaccurate running+ balance.++ register+ (reg)++ Show postings and their running total.++ Flags:+ --cumulative accumulation mode: show running total from report+ start date (default)+ -H --historical accumulation mode: show historical running+ total/balance (includes postings before report+ start date)+ -A --average show running average of posting amounts instead+ of total (implies --empty)+ -m --match=DESC fuzzy search for one recent posting with+ description closest to DESC+ -r --related show postings' siblings instead+ --invert display all amounts with reversed sign+ --drop=N omit N leading account name parts+ --sort=FIELDS sort by: date, desc, account, amount, absamount,+ or a comma-separated combination of these. For a+ descending sort, prefix with -. (Default: date)+ -w --width=N set output width (default: terminal width). -wN,M+ sets description width as well.+ --align-all guarantee alignment across all lines (slower)+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,+ with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by+ hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, csv, tsv, html, fods, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ 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.++ For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first 1000+ lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause visual+ discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to ensure per-+ fect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the --align-all+ flag.++ The --historical/-H flag adds the balance from any undisplayed prior post-+ ings 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 --drop option will trim leading segments from account names.++ 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 af-+ fected 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:++ The --sort=FIELDS flag sorts by the fields given, which can be any of ac-+ count, amount, absamount, date, or desc/description, optionally separated+ by commas. For example, --sort account,amount will group all transactions+ in each account, sorted by transaction amount. Each field can be negated+ by a preceding -, so --sort -amount will show transactions ordered from+ smallest amount to largest amount.++ $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking++ With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per inter-+ val, 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 1+ 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 compara-+ ble to the others in the report.++ If you have a deeply nested account tree some reports might benefit from+ trimming leading segments from the account names using --drop.++ $ hledger register --monthly income --drop 1+ 2008/01 salary $-1 $-1+ 2008/06 gifts $-1 $-2++ With -m DESC/--match=DESC, register does a fuzzy search for one recent+ posting whose description is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at+ least two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no posting will+ be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero.++ Custom register output+ register normally uses the full terminal width (or 80 columns if it can't+ detect that). You can override this with 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+ $ hledger reg -w 100,40 # set overall width 100, description width 40++ This command also supports the output destination and output format options+ The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), and json.++ balancesheet+ (bs)++ Show the end balances in asset and liability accounts. Amounts are shown+ with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial statements.++ Flags:+ --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ (default)+ --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of+ period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,+ withdrawals, market price fluctuations)+ --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital+ gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost+ basis)+ --count calculation mode: show the count of postings+ --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column+ start to column end (in multicolumn reports)+ --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report+ start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end+ -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from+ journal start to column end (includes postings+ before report start date) (default)+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,+ except where the account is depth-clipped.+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts+ include subaccount amounts.+ --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts+ --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used+ with -E)+ -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn+ reports)+ -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)+ --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,+ average) (in multicolumn reports)+ -N --no-total omit the final total row+ --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts+ --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)+ -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name+ -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's+ total+ --layout=ARG 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+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to+ hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base+ url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ This command displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending balances+ of asset and liability accounts. (To see equity as well, use the bal-+ ancesheetequity command.)++ Accounts declared with the Asset, Cash or Liability type are shown (see ac-+ count types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level ac-+ counts named asset or liability (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and+ their subaccounts.++ Example:++ $ hledger balancesheet+ Balance Sheet 2008-12-31++ || 2008-12-31+ ====================++============+ Assets ||+ --------------------++------------+ assets:bank:saving || $1+ assets:cash || $-2+ --------------------++------------+ || $-1+ ====================++============+ Liabilities ||+ --------------------++------------+ liabilities:debts || $-1+ --------------------++------------+ || $-1+ ====================++============+ Net: || 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 simi-+ lar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities, but with smarter account de-+ tection, 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and+ json.++ 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.++ Flags:+ --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ (default)+ --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of+ period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,+ withdrawals, market price fluctuations)+ --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital+ gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost+ basis)+ --count calculation mode: show the count of postings+ --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column+ start to column end (in multicolumn reports)+ --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report+ start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end+ -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from+ journal start to column end (includes postings+ before report start date) (default)+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,+ except where the account is depth-clipped.+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts+ include subaccount amounts.+ --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts+ --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used+ with -E)+ -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn+ reports)+ -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)+ --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,+ average) (in multicolumn reports)+ -N --no-total omit the final total row+ --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts+ --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)+ -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name+ -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's+ total+ --layout=ARG 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+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to+ hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base+ url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ This report shows accounts declared with the Asset, Cash, Liability or Eq-+ uity type (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it+ shows top-level accounts named asset, liability or equity (case insensi-+ tive, plurals allowed) and their subaccounts.++ Example:++ $ hledger balancesheetequity+ Balance Sheet With Equity 2008-12-31++ || 2008-12-31+ ====================++============+ Assets ||+ --------------------++------------+ assets:bank:saving || $1+ assets:cash || $-2+ --------------------++------------+ || $-1+ ====================++============+ Liabilities ||+ --------------------++------------+ liabilities:debts || $-1+ --------------------++------------+ || $-1+ ====================++============+ Equity ||+ --------------------++------------+ --------------------++------------+ || 0+ ====================++============+ Net: || 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 simi-+ lar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with smarter ac-+ count detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their sign flipped.++ This report is the easiest way to see if the accounting equation (A+L+E =+ 0) is satisfied (after you have done a close --retain to merge revenues and+ expenses with equity, and perhaps added --infer-equity to balance your com-+ modity conversions).++ This command also supports the output destination and output format options+ The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json.++ cashflow+ (cf)++ This command displays a (simple) cashflow statement, showing the inflows+ and outflows affecting "cash" (ie, liquid, easily convertible) assets.+ Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial+ statements.++ Flags:+ --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ (default)+ --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of+ period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,+ withdrawals, market price fluctuations)+ --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital+ gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost+ basis)+ --count calculation mode: show the count of postings+ --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column+ start to column end (in multicolumn reports)+ (default)+ --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report+ start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end+ -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from+ journal start to column end (includes postings+ before report start date)+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,+ except where the account is depth-clipped.+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts+ include subaccount amounts.+ --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts+ --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used+ with -E)+ -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn+ reports)+ -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)+ --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,+ average) (in multicolumn reports)+ -N --no-total omit the final total row+ --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts+ --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)+ -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name+ -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's+ total+ --layout=ARG 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+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to+ hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base+ url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ This report shows accounts declared with the Cash type (see account types).+ Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows accounts++ * under a top-level account named asset (case insensitive, plural allowed)++ * whose name contains some variation of cash, bank, checking or saving.++ More precisely: all accounts matching this case insensitive regular expres-+ sion:++ ^assets?(:.+)?:(cash|bank|che(ck|que?)(ing)?|savings?|currentcash)(:|$)++ and their subaccounts.++ An example cashflow report:++ $ hledger cashflow+ Cashflow Statement 2008++ || 2008+ ====================++======+ Cash flows ||+ --------------------++------+ assets:bank:saving || $1+ assets:cash || $-2+ --------------------++------+ || $-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 simi-+ lar 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and+ json.++ incomestatement+ (is)++ Show revenue inflows and expense outflows during the report period.+ Amounts are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional financial+ statements.++ Flags:+ --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ (default)+ --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of+ period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,+ withdrawals, market price fluctuations)+ --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital+ gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost+ basis)+ --count calculation mode: show the count of postings+ --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column+ start to column end (in multicolumn reports)+ (default)+ --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report+ start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end+ -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from+ journal start to column end (includes postings+ before report start date)+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,+ except where the account is depth-clipped.+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts+ include subaccount amounts.+ --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts+ --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used+ with -E)+ -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn+ reports)+ -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)+ --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,+ average) (in multicolumn reports)+ -N --no-total omit the final total row+ --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts+ --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)+ -S --sort-amount sort by amount instead of account code/name+ -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's+ total+ --layout=ARG 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+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate hyperlinks to+ hledger-web, with this prefix. (Usually the base+ url shown by hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ This command displays an income statement, showing revenues and expenses+ during one or more periods.++ It shows accounts declared with the Revenue or Expense type (see account+ types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts+ named revenue or income or expense (case insensitive, plurals allowed) and+ their subaccounts.++ Example:++ $ hledger incomestatement+ Income Statement 2008++ || 2008+ ===================++======+ Revenues ||+ -------------------++------+ income:gifts || $1+ income:salary || $1+ -------------------++------+ || $2+ ===================++======+ Expenses ||+ -------------------++------+ expenses:food || $1+ expenses:supplies || $1+ -------------------++------+ || $2+ ===================++======+ Net: || 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 simi-+ lar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with smarter ac-+ count 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, tsv (Added in 1.32), html, and+ json.++Advanced report commands+ balance+ (bal)++ A flexible, general purpose "summing" report that shows accounts with some+ kind of numeric data. This can be balance changes per period, end bal-+ ances, budget performance, unrealised capital gains, etc.++ Flags:+ --sum calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ (default)+ --valuechange calculation mode: show total change of value of+ period-end historical balances (caused by deposits,+ withdrawals, market price fluctuations)+ --gain calculation mode: show unrealised capital+ gain/loss (historical balance value minus cost+ basis)+ --budget[=DESCPAT] calculation mode: show sum of posting amounts+ together with budget goals defined by periodic+ transactions. With a DESCPAT argument (must be+ separated by = not space),+ use only periodic transactions with matching+ description+ (case insensitive substring match).+ --count calculation mode: show the count of postings+ --change accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from column+ start to column end (in multicolumn reports,+ default)+ --cumulative accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from report+ start (specified by e.g. -b/--begin) to column end+ -H --historical accumulation mode: accumulate amounts from+ journal start to column end (includes postings+ before report start date)+ -l --flat list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list+ (default). Amounts exclude subaccount amounts,+ except where the account is depth-clipped.+ -t --tree list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree. Amounts+ include subaccount amounts.+ --drop=N in list mode, omit N leading account name parts+ --declared include non-parent declared accounts (best used+ with -E)+ -A --average show a row average column (in multicolumn+ reports)+ -T --row-total show a row total column (in multicolumn reports)+ --summary-only display only row summaries (e.g. row total,+ average) (in multicolumn reports)+ -N --no-total omit the final total row+ --no-elide in tree mode, don't squash boring parent accounts+ --format=FORMATSTR use this custom line format (in simple reports)+ -S --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.+ -% --percent express values in percentage of each column's+ total+ -r --related show the other accounts transacted with, instead+ --invert display all amounts with reversed sign+ --transpose switch rows and columns (use vertical time axis)+ --layout=ARG how to lay out multi-commodity amounts and the+ overall table:+ 'wide[,W]': commodities on same line, up to W wide+ 'tall' : commodities on separate lines+ 'bare' : commodity symbols in a separate column+ 'tidy' : each data field in its own column+ --base-url=URLPREFIX in html output, generate links to hledger-web,+ with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by+ hledger-web; can also be relative.)+ -O --output-format=FMT select the output format. Supported formats:+ txt, html, csv, tsv, json, fods.+ -o --output-file=FILE write output to FILE. A file extension matching+ one of the above formats selects that format.++ 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 represent-+ ing accounts, and columns representing periods.++ Note there are some variants of the balance command with convenient de-+ faults, which are simpler to use: balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cash-+ flow and incomestatement. When you need more control, 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 other bal-+ ance-like commands as well (bs, cf, is..).++ 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)++ * or balance changes from sibling postings (--related/-r)++ * or postings count (--count)++ ..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, tsv (Added in 1.32), json, and (multi-period+ reports only:) html, fods (Added in 1.40). In txt output in a colour-sup-+ porting 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 - dur-+ ing the entire period of the journal. ("Simple" here means just one column+ of numbers, covering a single period. You can also have multi-period re-+ ports, described later.)++ For real-world accounts, these numbers will normally be 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.++ Balance report line format+ 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 specifies the formatting applied to each account/bal-+ ance 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 char-+ acters 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 sin-+ gle-column balance report++ 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:++ * "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 re-+ quires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextaccount-+ ing-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 sep-+ arately.++ Depth limiting+ With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just -NUM (eg: -3) bal-+ ance 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++ Showing declared accounts+ With --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account direc-+ tive will be included in the balance report, even if they have no transac-+ tions. (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 in-+ cluded, 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.++ 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 sub-+ sequent 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 you could use one of the higher-level balance reports+ (bs, is..), which flip the sign automatically (eg: hledger is -MAS).++ Percentages+ With -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed as a+ percentage of the (column) total.++ 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:a++ 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 en-+ compass 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.++ * 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.++ * The --summary-only flag (--summary also works) hides all but the Total+ and Average columns (those should be enabled with --row-total and+ -A/--average).++ 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++ * Filter to a single currency with cur:++ * Convert to a single currency with -V [--infer-market-price]++ * Use a more compact layout like --layout=bare++ * 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++ 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 time-+ zone). 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 rev-+ enues 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" transac-+ tion (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.)++ Balance report modes+ The balance command is quite flexible; here is the full detail on how to+ control what it reports. If the following seems complicated, don't worry -+ this is for advanced reporting, and it does take time and experimentation+ to get familiar with all the report modes.++ There are three important option groups:++ hledger balance [CALCULATIONMODE] [ACCUMULATIONMODE] [VALUATIONMODE] ...++ Calculation mode+ The basic calculation to perform for each table cell. It is one of:++ * --sum : sum the posting amounts (default)++ * --budget : sum the amounts, but also show the budget goal amount (for+ each account/period)++ * --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 bal-+ ance minus each amount's original cost)++ * --count : show the count of postings++ Accumulation mode+ How amounts should accumulate across a report's subperiods/columns. An-+ other way to say it: which time period's postings should contribute to each+ cell's calculation. It is one of:++ * --change : calculate with postings from column start to column end, ie+ "just this column". Typically used to see revenues/expenses. (default+ for balance, cashflow, incomestatement)++ * --cumulative : calculate with postings from report start to column end,+ ie "previous columns plus this column". Typically used to show changes+ accumulated since the report's start date. Not often used.++ * --historical/-H : calculate with postings from journal start to column+ end, ie "all postings from before report start date until this column's+ end". Typically used to see historical end balances of assets/liabili-+ ties/equity. (default for balancesheet, balancesheetequity)++ Valuation mode+ Which kind of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, before+ displaying the report. See Cost reporting and Value reporting for more+ about conversions.++ A valuation (or cost) mode can be selected with the --value option:++ * no conversion : don't convert to cost or value (default)++ * --value=cost[,COMM] : convert amounts to cost (then optionally to some+ other commodity)++ * --value=then[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on transaction+ dates++ * --value=end[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on period end+ date(s)+ (default with --valuechange, --gain)++ * --value=now[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on today's date++ * --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on another+ date++ or with the legacy -B/-V/-X options, which are equivalent and easier to+ type:++ * -B/--cost : like --value=cost++ * -V/--market : like --value=end++ * -X COMM/--exchange COMM : like --value=end,COMM++ Note that --value can also convert to cost, as a convenience; but actually+ --cost and --value are independent options, and could be used together.++ Combining balance report modes+ Most combinations of these modes should produce reasonable reports, but if+ you find any that seem wrong or misleading, let us know. The following re-+ strictions are applied:++ * --valuechange implies --value=end++ * --valuechange makes --change the default when used with the bal-+ ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands++ * --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T++ For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valuation+ show:++ Valua- no valuation --value= then --value= end --value=+ tion:> YYYY-MM-DD+ Accumu- /now+ lation:v+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ --change change in period sum of post- period-end DATE-value of+ ing-date market value of change change in pe-+ values in period in period riod+ --cumu- change from re- sum of post- period-end DATE-value of+ lative port start to ing-date market value of change change from+ period end values from re- from report report start+ port start to pe- start to period to period end+ riod end end+ --his- change from sum of post- period-end DATE-value of+ torical journal start to ing-date market value of change change from+ /-H period end (his- values from jour- from journal journal start+ torical end bal- nal start to pe- start to period to period end+ ance) riod end end++ Budget report+ The --budget report is like a regular balance report, but with two main+ differences:++ * Budget goals and performance percentages are also shown, in brackets++ * Accounts which don't have budget goals are hidden by default.++ This is useful for comparing planned and actual income, expenses, time us-+ age, etc.++ Periodic transaction rules are used to define budget goals. For example,+ here's a periodic rule defining monthly goals for bus travel and food ex-+ penses:++ ;; Budget+ ~ monthly+ (expenses:bus) $30+ (expenses:food) $400++ After recording some actual expenses,++ ;; Two months worth of expenses+ 2017-11-01+ income $-1950+ expenses:bus $35+ expenses:food:groceries $310+ expenses:food:dining $42+ expenses:movies $38+ assets:bank:checking++ 2017-12-01+ income $-2100+ expenses:bus $53+ expenses:food:groceries $380+ expenses:food:dining $32+ expenses:gifts $100+ assets:bank:checking++ we can see a budget report like this:++ $ hledger bal -M --budget+ Budget performance in 2017-11-01..2017-12-31:++ || Nov Dec+ ===============++============================================+ <unbudgeted> || $-425 $-565+ expenses || $425 [ 99% of $430] $565 [131% of $430]+ expenses:bus || $35 [117% of $30] $53 [177% of $30]+ expenses:food || $352 [ 88% of $400] $412 [103% of $400]+ ---------------++--------------------------------------------+ || 0 [ 0% of $430] 0 [ 0% of $430]++ This is "goal-based budgeting"; you define goals for accounts and periods,+ often recurring, and hledger shows performance relative to the goals. This+ contrasts with "envelope budgeting", which is more detailed and strict -+ useful when cash is tight, but also quite a bit more work. https://plain-+ textaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on this topic.++ Using the budget report+ Historically this report has been confusing and fragile. hledger's version+ should be relatively robust and intuitive, but you may still find sur-+ prises. Here are more notes to help with learning and troubleshooting.++ * In the above example, expenses:bus and expenses:food are shown because+ they have budget goals during the report period.++ * Their parent expenses is also shown, with budget goals aggregated from+ the children.++ * The subaccounts expenses:food:groceries and expenses:food:dining are not+ shown since they have no budget goal of their own, but they contribute to+ expenses:food's actual amount.++ * Unbudgeted accounts expenses:movies and expenses:gifts are also not+ shown, but they contribute to expenses's actual amount.++ * The other unbudgeted accounts income and assets:bank:checking are grouped+ as <unbudgeted>.++ * --depth or depth: can be used to limit report depth in the usual way (but+ will not reveal unbudgeted subaccounts).++ * Amounts are always inclusive of subaccounts (even in -l/--list mode).++ * Numbers displayed in a --budget report will not always agree with the to-+ tals, because of hidden unbudgeted accounts; this is normal. -E/--empty+ can be used to reveal the hidden accounts.++ * In the periodic rules used for setting budget goals, unbalanced postings+ are convenient.++ * You can filter budget reports with the usual queries, eg to focus on par-+ ticular accounts. It's common to restrict them to just expenses. (The+ <unbudgeted> account is occasionally hard to exclude; this is because of+ date surprises, discussed below.)++ * When you have multiple currencies, you may want to convert them to one+ (-X COMM --infer-market-prices) and/or show just one at a time+ (cur:COMM). If you do need to show multiple currencies at once, --layout+ bare can be helpful.++ * You can "roll over" amounts (actual and budgeted) to the next period with+ --cumulative.++ See also: https://hledger.org/budgeting.html.++ Budget date surprises+ With small data, or when starting out, some of the generated budget goal+ transaction dates might fall outside the report periods. Eg with the fol-+ lowing journal and report, the first period appears to have no ex-+ penses:food budget. (Also the <unbudgeted> account should be excluded by+ the expenses query, but isn't.):++ ~ monthly in 2020+ (expenses:food) $500++ 2020-01-15+ expenses:food $400+ assets:checking++ $ hledger bal --budget expenses+ Budget performance in 2020-01-15:++ || 2020-01-15+ ===============++====================+ <unbudgeted> || $400+ expenses:food || 0 [ 0% of $500]+ ---------------++--------------------+ || $400 [80% of $500]++ In this case, the budget goal transactions are generated on first days of+ of month (this can be seen with hledger print --forecast tag:generated ex-+ penses). Whereas the report period defaults to just the 15th day of janu-+ ary (this can be seen from the report table's column headings).++ To fix this kind of thing, be more explicit about the report period (and/or+ the periodic rules' dates). In this case, adding -b 2020 does the trick.++ Selecting budget goals+ 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 de-+ scription contains DESCPAT, a case-insensitive substring (not a regular ex-+ pression or query). This means you can give your periodic rules descrip-+ tions (remember that two spaces are needed between period expression and+ description), and then select from multiple budgets defined in your jour-+ nal.++ Budgeting vs forecasting+ --forecast and --budget both use the periodic transaction rules in the+ journal to generate temporary transactions for reporting purposes. However+ they are separate features - though you can use both at the same time if+ you want. Here are some differences between them:++ --forecast --budget+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------+ is a general option; it enables fore- is a balance command option; it+ casting with all reports selects the balance report's+ budget mode+ generates visible transactions which generates invisible transactions+ appear in reports which produce goal amounts+ generates forecast transactions from generates budget goal transac-+ after the last regular transaction, to tions throughout the report pe-+ the end of the report period; or with riod, optionally restricted by+ an argument --forecast=PERIODEXPR gen- periods specified in the peri-+ erates them throughout the specified odic transaction rules+ period, both optionally restricted by+ periods specified in the periodic+ transaction rules+ uses all periodic rules uses all periodic rules; or with+ an argument --budget=DESCPAT+ uses just the rules matched by+ DESCPAT++ Balance report layout+ The --layout option affects how balance and the other balance-like commands+ show multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols. It can improve read-+ ability, for humans and/or machines (other software). It has four possible+ values:++ * --layout=wide[,WIDTH]: commodities are shown on a single line, optionally+ elided to WIDTH++ * --layout=tall: each commodity is shown on a separate line++ * --layout=bare: commodity symbols are in their own column, amounts are+ bare numbers++ * --layout=tidy: data is normalised to easily-consumed "tidy" form, with+ one row per data value. (This one is currently supported only by the+ balance command.)++ Here are the --layout modes supported by each output format Only CSV output+ supports all of them:++ - txt csv html json sql+ -------------------------------------+ wide Y Y Y+ tall Y Y Y+ bare Y Y Y+ tidy Y++ Examples:++ Wide layout+ With many commodities, reports can be very wide:++ $ 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++ A width limit reduces the width, but some commodities will be hidden:++ $ 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..++ Tall layout+ Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and ac-+ count names are repeated:++ $ 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++ Bare layout+ Commodity symbols are kept in one column, each commodity has its own row,+ amounts are bare numbers, account names are repeated:++ $ 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++ Bare layout also affects CSV output, which is useful for producing data+ that is easier to consume, eg for making charts:++ $ 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"++ Bare layout will sometimes display an extra row for the no-symbol commod-+ ity, because of zero amounts (hledger treats zeroes as commodity-less, usu-+ ally). This can break hledger-bar confusingly (workaround: add a cur:+ query to exclude the no-symbol row).++ Tidy layout+ This produces normalised "tidy data" (see+ https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy-data.html)+ where every variable has its own column and each row represents a single+ data point. This is the easiest kind of data for other software to con-+ sume:++ $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -Y -O csv --layout=tidy+ "account","period","start_date","end_date","commodity","value"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","GLD","0"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","ITOT","10.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","USD","337.18"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","VEA","12.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2012","2012-01-01","2012-12-31","VHT","106.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","GLD","70.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","ITOT","18.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","USD","-98.12"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","VEA","10.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2013","2013-01-01","2013-12-31","VHT","18.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","GLD","0"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","ITOT","-11.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","USD","4881.44"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VEA","14.00"+ "Assets:US:ETrade","2014","2014-01-01","2014-12-31","VHT","170.00"++ Balance report output+ As noted in Output format, if you choose HTML output (by using -O html or+ -o somefile.html), you can create a hledger.css file in the same directory+ to customise the report's appearance.++ The HTML and FODS output formats can generate hyperlinks to a hledger-web+ register view for each account and period. E.g. if your hledger-web+ server is reachable at http://localhost:5000 then you might run the balance+ command with the extra option --base-url=http://localhost:5000. You can+ also produce relative links, like --base-url="some/path" or --base-url="".)++ Some useful balance reports+ Some frequently used balance options/reports are:++ * bal -M revenues expenses+ Show revenues/expenses in each month. Also available as the incomestate-+ ment 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 cash-+ flow 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 [--in-+ vert]+ Show top gainers [or losers] last week++ roi+ Shows the time-weighted (TWR) and money-weighted (IRR) rate of return on+ your investments.++ Flags:+ --cashflow show all amounts that were used to compute+ returns+ --investment=QUERY query to select your investment transactions+ --profit-loss=QUERY --pnl query to select profit-and-loss or+ appreciation/valuation transactions++ 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 iden-+ tify 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 ac-+ counts).++ This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return (IRR,+ also known as money-weighted rate of return) and time-weighted rate of re-+ turn (TWR) for your investments for the time period requested. IRR is al-+ ways annualized due to the way it is computed, but TWR is reported both as+ a rate over the chosen reporting period and as an annual rate.++ 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/invest-+ ing/roi-unrealised.ledger++ * Cookbook > Return on Investment: https://hledger.org/roi.html++ 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.++ * "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++ 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 re-+ turn") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows, and the time+ between them. Investment at a particular fixed interest rate is going to+ give you more interest than the same amount invested at the same interest+ rate, but made later in time. 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, so your IRR will be smaller.+ And if you are adding to your investment, you will receive bigger absolute+ gains, which will be a bigger percentage of your initial investment, so+ your IRR will be larger.++ As mentioned before, in-flows and out-flows would be any cash that you per-+ sonally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are the post-+ ings 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 transac-+ tions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized gains")+ account or use price directives, then in order for IRR to compute the pre-+ cise 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 dis-+ counted 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 account for the+ effect of your in-flows and out-flows, but unlike IRR it will try to com-+ pute the true rate of return of the underlying asset, compensating for the+ effect that deposits and withdrawas have on the apparent rate of growth of+ your investment.++ 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, and+ make TWR less sensitive than IRR to the effects of cash in-flows and+ out-flows.++ References:++ * Explanation of rate of return++ * Explanation of IRR++ * Explanation of TWR++ * IRR vs TWR++ * Examples of computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations of+ both metrics++Chart commands+ activity+ Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ 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 **++Data generation commands+ close+ (equity)++ close prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening" transactions, use-+ ful in various situations: migrating balances to a new journal file, re-+ taining earnings into equity, consolidating balances, viewing lot costs..+ Like print, it prints valid journal entries. You can copy these into your+ journal file(s) when you are happy with how they look.++ Flags:+ --clopen[=TAGVAL] show closing and opening balances transactions,+ for AL accounts by default+ --close[=TAGVAL] show just a closing balances transaction+ --open[=TAGVAL] show just an opening balances transaction+ --assert[=TAGVAL] show a balance assertions transaction+ --assign[=TAGVAL] show a balance assignments transaction+ --retain[=TAGVAL] show a retain earnings transaction, for RX+ accounts by default+ -x --explicit show all amounts explicitly+ --show-costs show amounts with different costs separately+ --interleaved show source and destination postings together+ --assertion-type=TYPE =, ==, =* or ==*+ --close-desc=DESC set closing transaction's description+ --close-acct=ACCT set closing transaction's destination account+ --open-desc=DESC set opening transaction's description+ --open-acct=ACCT set opening transaction's source account+ --round=TYPE how much rounding or padding should be done when+ displaying amounts ?+ none - show original decimal digits,+ as in journal (default)+ soft - just add or remove decimal zeros+ to match precision+ hard - round posting amounts to precision+ (can unbalance transactions)+ all - also round cost amounts to precision+ (can unbalance transactions)++ close has six modes, selected by choosing one of the mode flags: --clopen,+ --close (default), --open, --assert, --assign, or --retain. They are all+ doing the same kind of operation, but with different defaults for different+ situations.++ The journal entries generated by close will have a clopen: tag, which is+ helpful when you want to exclude them from reports. If the main journal+ file name contains a number, the tag's value will be that base file name+ with the number incremented. Eg if the journal file is 2025.journal, the+ tag will be clopen:2026. Or you can set the tag value by providing an ar-+ gument to the mode flag. Eg --close=foo or --clopen=2025-main.++ close --clopen+ This is useful if migrating balances to a new journal file at the start of+ a new year. It prints a "closing balances" transaction that zeroes out ac-+ count balances (Asset and Liability accounts, by default), and an opposite+ "opening balances" transaction that restores them again. Typically, you+ would run++ hledger close --clopen -e NEWYEAR >> $LEDGER_FILE++ and then move the opening transaction from the old file to the new file+ (and probably also update your LEDGER_FILE environment variable).++ Why might you do this ? If your reports are fast, you may not need it.+ But at some point you will probably want to partition your data by time,+ for performance or data integrity or regulatory reasons. A new file or set+ of files per year is common. Then, having each file/fileset "bookended"+ with opening and closing balance transactions will allow you to freely pick+ and choose which files to read - just the current year, any past year, any+ sequence of years, or all of them - while showing correct account balances+ in each case. The earliest opening balances transaction sets correct+ starting balances, and any later closing/opening pairs will harmlessly can-+ cel each other out.++ The balances will be transferred to and from equity:opening/closing bal-+ ances by default. You can override this by using --close-acct and/or+ --open-acct.++ You can select a different set of accounts to close/open by providing an+ account query. Eg to add Equity accounts, provide arguments like assets+ liabilities equity or type:ALE. When migrating to a new file, you'll usu-+ ally want to bring along the AL or ALE accounts, but not the RX accounts+ (Revenue, Expense).++ Assertions will be added indicating and checking the new balances of the+ closed/opened accounts.++ close --close+ This prints just the closing balances transaction of --clopen. It is the+ default if you don't specify a mode.++ More customisation options are described below. Among other things, you+ can use close --close to generate a transaction moving the balances from+ any set of accounts, to a different account. (If you need to move just a+ portion of the balance, see hledger-move.)++ close --open+ This prints just the opening balances transaction of --clopen. (It is sim-+ ilar to Ledger's equity command.)++ close --assert+ This prints a transaction that asserts the account balances as they are on+ the end date (and adds an assert: tag). It could be useful as documention+ and to guard against changes.++ close --assign+ This prints a transaction that assigns the account balances as they are on+ the end date (and adds an "assign:" tag). Unlike balance assertions, as-+ signments will post changes to balances as needed to reach the specified+ amounts.++ This is another way to set starting balances when migrating to a new file,+ and it will set them correctly even in the presence of earlier files which+ do not have a closing balances transaction. However, it can hide errors,+ and disturb the accounting equation, so --clopen is usually recommended.++ close --retain+ This is like --close, but it closes Revenue and Expense account balances by+ default. They will be transferred to equity:retained earnings, or another+ account specified with --close-acct.++ Revenues and expenses correspond to changes in equity. They are cate-+ gorised separately for reporting purposes, but traditionally at the end of+ each accounting period, businesses consolidate them into equity, This is+ called "retaining earnings", or "closing the books".++ In personal accounting, there's not much reason to do this, and most people+ don't. (One reason to do it is to help the balancesheetequity report show+ a zero total, demonstrating that the accounting equation (A-L=E) is satis-+ fied.)++ close customisation+ In all modes, the following things can be overridden:++ * the accounts to be closed/opened, with account query arguments++ * the closing/opening dates, with -e OPENDATE++ * the balancing account, with --close-acct=ACCT and/or --open-acct=ACCT++ * the transaction descriptions, with --close-desc=DESC and --open-desc=DESC++ * the transactions' clopen tag value, with a TAGVAL argument for the mode+ flag (see above).++ By default, the closing date is yesterday, or the journal's end date,+ whichever is later; and the opening date is always one day after the clos-+ ing date. You can change these by specifying a report end date; the clos-+ ing date will be the last day of the report period. Eg -e 2024 means+ "close on 2023-12-31, open on 2024-01-01".++ With --x/--explicit, the balancing amount will be shown explicitly, and if+ it involves multiple commodities, a separate posting will be generated for+ each of them (similar to print -x).++ With --interleaved, each individual transfer is shown with source and des-+ tination postings next to each other (perhaps useful for troubleshooting).++ With --show-costs, balances' costs are also shown, with different costs+ kept separate. This may generate very large journal entries, if you have+ many currency conversions or investment transactions. close --show-costs+ is currently the best way to view investment lots with hledger. (To move+ or dispose of lots, see the more capable hledger-move script.)++ close and balance assertions+ close adds balance assertions verifying that the accounts have been reset+ to zero in a closing transaction or restored to their previous balances in+ an opening transaction. These provide useful error checking, but you can+ ignore them temporarily with -I, or remove them if you prefer.++ Single-commodity, subaccount-exclusive balance assertions (=) are generated+ by default. This can be changed with --assertion-type='==*' (eg).++ When running close you should probably avoid using -C, -R, status: (filter-+ ing by status or realness) or --auto (generating postings), since the gen-+ erated balance assertions would then require these.++ Transactions with multiple dates (eg posting dates) spanning the file+ boundary also can disrupt the balance assertions:++ 2023-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january+ expenses:food 5+ assets:bank:checking -5 ; date: 2023-01-02++ To solve this you can transfer the money to and from a temporary account,+ splitting the multi-day transaction into two single-day transactions:++ ; in 2022.journal:+ 2022-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january+ expenses:food 5+ equity:pending -5++ ; in 2023.journal:+ 2023-01-02 last year's transaction cleared+ equity:pending 5 = 0+ assets:bank:checking -5++ close examples+ Retain earnings+ Record 2022's revenues/expenses as retained earnings on 2022-12-31, append-+ ing the generated transaction to the journal:++ $ hledger close --retain -f 2022.journal -p 2022 >> 2022.journal++ After this, to see 2022's revenues and expenses you must exclude the retain+ earnings transaction:++ $ hledger -f 2022.journal is not:desc:'retain earnings'++ Migrate balances to a new file+ Close assets/liabilities on 2022-12-31 and re-open them on 2023-01-01:++ $ hledger close --clopen -f 2022.journal -p 2022+ # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2022.journal+ # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2023.journal++ After this, to see 2022's end-of-year balances you must exclude the closing+ balances transaction:++ $ hledger -f 2022.journal bs not:desc:'closing balances'++ For more flexibility, it helps to tag closing and opening transactions with+ eg clopen:NEWYEAR, then you can ensure correct balances by excluding all+ opening/closing transactions except the first, like so:++ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j -f 2023.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'+ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'+ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j -f 2023.j expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'+ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'+ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'+ $ hledger bs -Y -f 2023.j # unclosed file, no query needed++ More detailed close examples+ See examples/multi-year.++ rewrite+ Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions.+ For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings, like print+ --auto.++ Flags:+ --add-posting='ACCT AMTEXPR' add a posting to ACCT, which may be+ parenthesised. AMTEXPR is either a literal+ amount, or *N which means the transaction's+ first matched amount multiplied by N (a+ decimal number). Two spaces separate ACCT+ and AMTEXPR.+ --diff generate diff suitable as an input for+ patch tool++ 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.++ 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 transac-+ tions 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 jour-+ nal is important. You can re-use result of previously added postings.++ 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 op-+ tions 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:++ * 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.++Maintenance commands+ check+ Check for various kinds of errors in your data.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ hledger provides a number of built-in correctness checks to help validate+ your data and prevent errors. Some are run automatically, some when you+ enable --strict mode; or you can run any of them on demand by providing+ them as arguments to the check command. check produces no output and a+ zero exit code if all is well. Eg:++ hledger check # run basic checks+ hledger check -s # run basic and strict checks+ hledger check ordereddates payees # run basic checks and two others++ If you are an Emacs user, you can also configure flycheck-hledger to run+ these checks, providing instant feedback as you edit the journal.++ Here are the checks currently available. They are generally checked in the+ order they are shown here, and only the first failure will be reported.++ Basic checks+ These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger com-+ mands:++ * parseable - data files are in a supported format, with no syntax errors+ and no invalid include directives. This ensures that all files exist and+ are readable.++ * autobalanced - all transactions are balanced, after automatically infer-+ ring missing amounts and conversion rates and then converting amounts to+ cost. This ensures that each transaction's journal entry is well formed.++ * assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing. Balance+ assertions are a strong defense against errors, catching many problems.+ This check is on by default, but if it gets in your way, you can disable+ it temporarily with -I/--ignore-assertions, or as a default by adding+ that flag to your config file. (Then use -s/--strict or hledger check+ assertions when you want to enable it).++ Strict checks+ When the -s/--strict flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands will per-+ form the following additional checks (and assertions, above). These pro-+ vide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data clean and cor-+ rect:++ * balanced - like autobalanced, but implicit conversions between commodi-+ ties are not allowed; all conversion transactions must use cost notation+ or equity postings. This prevents wrong conversions caused by typos.++ * commodities - all commodity symbols used must be declared. This guards+ against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols.++ * accounts - all account names used must be declared. This prevents the+ use of mis-spelled or outdated account names.++ Other checks+ These are not wanted by everyone, but can be run using the check command:++ * tags - all tags used must be declared. This prevents mis-spelled tag+ names. Note hledger fairly often finds unintended tags in comments.++ * payees - all payees used in transactions must be declared. This will+ force you to declare any new payee name before using it. Most people+ will probably find this a bit too strict.++ * ordereddates - within each file, transactions must be ordered by date.+ This is a simple and effective error catcher. It's not included in+ strict mode, but you can add it by running hledger check -s ordereddates.+ If enabled, this check is performed before balance assertions.++ * recentassertions - all accounts with balance assertions must have one+ that's within the 7 days before their latest posting. This will encour-+ age adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability accounts,+ which in turn should encourage you to reconcile regularly with those real+ world balances - another strong defense against errors. (hledger close+ --assert >>$LEDGER_FILE is a convenient way to add new balance asser-+ tions. Later these become quite redundant, and you might choose to re-+ move them to reduce clutter.)++ * uniqueleafnames - no two accounts may have the same last account name+ part (eg the checking in assets:bank:checking). This ensures each ac-+ count can be matched by a unique short name, easier to remember and to+ type.++ Custom checks+ You can build your own custom checks with add-on command scripts. See also+ Cookbook > Scripting. Here are some examples from hledger/bin/:++ * hledger-check-tagfiles - all tag values containing / exist as file paths++ * hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance assertions are pass-+ ing++ 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.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ More precisely: for each posting affecting this account in either file,+ this command looks for a corresponding posting in the other file which+ posts the same amount to the same account (ignoring date, description,+ etc).++ Since it compares postings, not transactions, this also works when multiple+ bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry.++ This command 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:++ setup+ Check the status of the hledger installation.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ setup tests your hledger installation and prints a list of results, some-+ times with helpful hints. This is a good first command to run after in-+ stalling hledger. Also after upgrading, or when something's not working,+ or just when you want a reminder of where things are.++ It makes one network request to detect the latest hledger release version.+ It's ok if this fails or times out. It will use ANSI color by default, un-+ less disabled by NO_COLOR or --color=n. It does not use a pager or a con-+ fig file.++ It expects that the hledger version you are running is installed in your+ PATH. If not, it will stop until you have done that (to keep things sim-+ ple).++ Example:++ $ hledger setup+ Checking your hledger setup..+ Legend: good, neutral, unknown, warning++ hledger+ * is a released version ? no hledger 1.42.99-gbca4b39c5-20250425, mac-aarch64+ * is up to date ? yes 1.42.99 installed, latest is 1.42.1+ * is a native binary for this machine ? yes aarch64+ * is installed in PATH ? yes /Users/simon/.local/bin/hledger+ * has a system text encoding configured ? yes UTF-8, data files should use this encoding+ * has a user config file ? (optional) no+ * current directory has a local config ? yes /Users/simon/src/hledger/hledger.conf+ * the config file is readable ? yes /Users/simon/src/hledger/hledger.conf++ terminal+ * the NO_COLOR variable is defined ? no+ * --color is configured by config file ? no+ * hledger will use color by default ? yes+ * the PAGER variable is defined ? yes less+ * --pager is configured by config file ? no+ * hledger will use a pager when needed ? yes /opt/homebrew/bin/less+ * the LESS variable is defined ? yes+ * the HLEDGER_LESS variable is defined ? no+ * adjusting LESS variable for color etc. ? yes+ * --pretty is enabled by config file ? no tables will use ASCII characters+ * bash shell completions are installed ? ?+ * zsh shell completions are installed ? ?++ journal+ * the LEDGER_FILE variable is defined ? yes /Users/simon/finance/2025/2025.journal+ * a default journal file is readable ? yes /Users/simon/finance/2025/2025.journal+ * it includes additional files ? yes 15+ * all commodities are declared ? yes 10+ * all accounts are declared ? yes 160+ * all accounts have types ? no 14 untyped+ * accounts of each type were detected ? yes ALERXCV+ * commodities/accounts are checked ? no use -s to check commodities/accounts+ * balance assertions are checked ? yes use -I to ignore assertions++ test+ Run built-in unit tests.++ Flags:+ no command-specific flags++ 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 san-+ ity-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!++ Any arguments before a -- argument will be passed to the tasty test runner+ as test-selecting -p patterns, and any arguments after -- will be passed to+ tasty unchanged.++ Examples:++ $ hledger test # run all unit tests+ $ hledger test balance # run tests with "balance" in their name+ $ hledger test -- -h # show tasty's options++PART 5: COMMON TASKS+ Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.++ Getting help+ Here's how to list commands and view options and command docs:++ $ hledger # show available commands+ $ hledger --help # show common options+ $ hledger CMD --help # show CMD's options, common options and CMD's documentation++ You can also view your hledger version's manual in several formats by using+ the help command. Eg:++ $ hledger help # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER (best available)+ $ hledger help journal # show the journal topic in the hledger manual+ $ hledger help --help # find out more about the help command++ To view manuals and introductory docs on the web, visit+ https://hledger.org. Chat and mail list support and discussion archives+ can be found at https://hledger.org/support.++ Constructing command lines+ hledger has a flexible command line interface. We strive to keep it simple+ and ergonomic, but if you run into one of the sharp edges described in OP-+ TIONS, here are some tips that might help:++ * command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to put com-+ mon options there too: hledger CMD OPTS ARGS)++ * you can run addon commands via hledger (hledger ui [ARGS]) or directly+ (hledger-ui [ARGS])++ * enclose "problematic" arguments in single quotes++ * if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression metacharacters+ from the shell++ * to see how a misbehaving command line 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 (see+ below). 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 2023.journal+ $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2023.journal" >> ~/.profile+ $ source ~/.profile+ $ hledger stats+ Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal+ Included files :+ Transactions span : to (0 days)+ Last transaction : none+ Transactions : 0 (0.0 per day)+ Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)+ Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)+ Payees/descriptions : 0+ Accounts : 0 (depth 0)+ Commodities : 0 ()+ Market prices : 0 ()++ Setting LEDGER_FILE+ Set LEDGER_FILE on unix+ It depends on your shell, but running these commands in the terminal will+ work for many people; adapt if needed:++ $ echo 'export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/main.journal' >> ~/.profile+ $ source ~/.profile++ When correctly configured:++ * env | grep LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting++ * and so should hledger setup and hledger files.++ Set LEDGER_FILE on mac+ In a terminal window, follow the unix procedure above.++ Also, this optional step may be helpful for GUI applications:++ 1. Add an entry to ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist like++ {+ "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/main.journal"+ }++ 2. Run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the machine), to com-+ plete the change.++ When correctly configured for GUI applications:++ * apps started from the dock or a spotlight search, such as a GUI Emacs,+ will be aware of the new LEDGER_FILE setting.++ Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows+ It can be easier to create a default file at C:\Users\USER\.hledger.jour-+ nal, and have it include your other files. See I'm on Windows, how do I+ keep my files in AppData?++ Otherwise: using the gui is easiest:++ 1. In task bar, search for environment variables, and choose "Edit environ-+ ment variables for your account".++ 2. Create or change a LEDGER_FILE setting in the User variables pane. A+ typical value would be C:\Users\USER\finance\main.journal.++ 3. Click OK to complete the change.++ 4. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the+ change.)++ Or at the command line, you can do it this way:++ 1. In a powershell window, run [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVari-+ able("LEDGER_FILE", "C:\User\USER\finance\main.journal", [System.Envi-+ ronmentVariableTarget]::User)++ 2. And open a new powershell window. (Existing windows won't see the+ change.)++ Warning, doing this from the Windows command line can be tricky; other+ methods you may find online:++ * may not affect the current window++ * may not be persistent++ * may not work unless you are an administrator++ * may limit values to 1024 characters++ * may break dynamic references to other variables++ * may require a new-enough version of powershell++ * or may be intended for the older command window.++ * If you still have trouble, see eg Setting Windows PowerShell environment+ variables or Adding path permanently to windows using powershell doesn't+ appear to work.++ When correctly configured:++ * in a new powershell window, $env:LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting++ * and so should hledger setup and (once the file exists) hledger files.++ 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:++ 2023-01-01 * opening balances+ assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000+ assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000+ assets:cash $100 = $100+ liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-50+ equity:opening/closing balances++ 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 simi-+ lar transaction:++ $ hledger add+ Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal+ Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.+ Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.+ An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.+ An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.+ If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.+ To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.+ To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.+ Date [2023-02-07]: 2023-01-01+ Description: * opening balances+ Account 1: assets:bank:checking+ Amount 1: $1000+ Account 2: assets:bank:savings+ Amount 2 [$-1000]: $2000+ Account 3: assets:cash+ Amount 3 [$-3000]: $100+ Account 4: liabilities:creditcard+ Amount 4 [$-3100]: $-50+ Account 5: equity:opening/closing balances+ Amount 5 [$-3050]:+ Account 6 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .+ 2023-01-01 * opening balances+ assets:bank:checking $1000+ assets:bank:savings $2000+ assets:cash $100+ liabilities:creditcard $-50+ equity:opening/closing balances $-3050++ Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]:+ Saved.+ Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)+ Date [2023-01-01]: .++ If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit the+ journal. Eg:++ $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2023.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 con-+ vert CSV data downloaded from your bank.++ Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual and+ hledger.org for more ideas:++ 2023/1/10 * gift received+ assets:cash $20+ income:gifts++ 2023.1.12 * farmers market+ expenses:food $13+ assets:cash++ 2023-01-15 paycheck+ income:salary+ assets:bank:checking $1000++ Reconciling+ Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported balances+ against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your bank's web-+ site - 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:++ 2023-01-16 * 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 transac-+ tions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track that, by+ adding the * marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above, insert * be-+ tween 2023-01-15 and paycheck++ If you're using version control, this can be another good time to commit:++ $ git commit -m 'txns' 2023.journal++ Reporting+ Here are some basic reports.++ Show all transactions:++ $ hledger print+ 2023-01-01 * opening balances+ assets:bank:checking $1000+ assets:bank:savings $2000+ assets:cash $100+ liabilities:creditcard $-50+ equity:opening/closing balances $-3050++ 2023-01-10 * gift received+ assets:cash $20+ income:gifts++ 2023-01-12 * farmers market+ expenses:food $13+ assets:cash++ 2023-01-15 * paycheck+ income:salary+ assets:bank:checking $1000++ 2023-01-16 * adjust cash+ assets:cash $-2 = $105+ expenses:misc++ 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 -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 -2+ Balance Sheet 2023-01-16++ || 2023-01-16+ ========================++============+ 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 2023-01-01-2023-01-16++ || 2023-01-01-2023-01-16+ ===============++=======================+ Revenues ||+ ---------------++-----------------------+ income:gifts || $20+ income:salary || $1000+ ---------------++-----------------------+ || $1020+ ===============++=======================+ Expenses ||+ ---------------++-----------------------+ expenses:food || $13+ expenses:misc || $2+ ---------------++-----------------------+ || $15+ ===============++=======================+ Net: || $1005++ The final total is your net income during this period.++ Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total:++ $ hledger register cash+ 2023-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100+ 2023-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120+ 2023-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107+ 2023-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105++ Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:++ $ hledger activity -W+ 2019-12-30 *****+ 2023-01-06 ****+ 2023-01-13 ****++ 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.++BUGS+ We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker+ (https://bugs.hledger.org), or on the hledger chat or mail list+ (https://hledger.org/support).++ Some known issues and limitations:++ hledger uses the system's text encoding when reading non-ascii text. If no+ system encoding is configured, or if the data's encoding is different,+ hledger will give an error. (See Text encoding, Troubleshooting.)++ On Microsoft Windows, depending what kind of terminal window you use,+ non-ascii characters, ANSI text formatting, and/or the add command's TAB+ key, may not be fully supported. (For best results, try a powershell win-+ dow.)++ When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than Ledger.++ Troubleshooting+ Here are some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger, and+ how to resolve them (and remember also you can usually get quick Support):++ PATH issues: I get an error like "No command 'hledger' found"+ Depending how you installed hledger, the executables may not be in your+ shell's PATH. Eg on unix systems, stack installs hledger in ~/.local/bin+ and cabal installs it in ~/.cabal/bin. You may need to add one of these+ directories to your shell's PATH, and/or open a new terminal window.++ LEDGER_FILE issues: I configured LEDGER_FILE but hledger is not using it++ * LEDGER_FILE should be a real environment variable, not just a shell vari-+ able. Eg on unix, the command env | grep LEDGER_FILE should show it.+ You may need to use export (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/7411509). On+ Windows, $env:LEDGER_FILE should show it.++ * You may need to force your shell to see the new configuration. A simple+ way is to close your terminal window and open a new one.++ Text decoding issues: I get errors like "Illegal byte sequence" or "Invalid+ or incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndReleaseBuffer: in-+ valid argument (invalid character)"+ hledger usually needs its input to be decodable with the system locale's+ text encoding. See Text encoding and Install: Text encoding.++ COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: hledger gives an error with my Ledger file+ Not all of Ledger's journal file syntax or feature set is supported. See+ hledger and Ledger for full details.++++AUTHORS+ Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.+ See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html+++COPYRIGHT+ Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.+++LICENSE+ Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.+++SEE ALSO+ hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)++hledger-1.52.1 August 2026 HLEDGER(1)
hledger.cabal view
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@ cabal-version: 2.2 --- This file has been generated from package.yaml by hpack version 0.39.1.+-- This file has been generated from package.yaml by hpack version 0.39.6. -- -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack name: hledger-version: 1.52.1+version: 1.52.2 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@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ hs-source-dirs: ./ ghc-options: -Wall -Wno-incomplete-uni-patterns -Wno-missing-signatures -Wno-orphans -Wno-type-defaults -Wno-unused-do-bind -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path- cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.1"+ cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.2" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , Diff >=0.2@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ , githash >=0.1.6.2 , hashable >=1.2.4 , haskeline >=0.6- , hledger-lib >=1.52.1 && <1.53+ , hledger-lib >=1.52.2 && <1.53 , http-client , http-types , lucid@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ hs-source-dirs: app ghc-options: -Wall -Wno-incomplete-uni-patterns -Wno-missing-signatures -Wno-orphans -Wno-type-defaults -Wno-unused-do-bind -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path -threaded -with-rtsopts=-T- cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.1"+ cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.2" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , aeson >=1 && <2.3@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ , githash >=0.1.6.2 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger- , hledger-lib >=1.52.1 && <1.53+ , hledger-lib >=1.52.2 && <1.53 , http-client , http-types , math-functions >=0.3.3.0@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ hs-source-dirs: test ghc-options: -Wall -Wno-incomplete-uni-patterns -Wno-missing-signatures -Wno-orphans -Wno-type-defaults -Wno-unused-do-bind -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path- cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.1"+ cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.2" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , aeson >=1 && <2.3@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ , githash >=0.1.6.2 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger- , hledger-lib >=1.52.1 && <1.53+ , hledger-lib >=1.52.2 && <1.53 , http-client , http-types , math-functions >=0.3.3.0@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ hs-source-dirs: bench ghc-options: -Wall -Wno-incomplete-uni-patterns -Wno-missing-signatures -Wno-orphans -Wno-type-defaults -Wno-unused-do-bind -optP-Wno-nonportable-include-path- cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.1"+ cpp-options: -DVERSION="1.52.2" build-depends: Decimal >=0.5.1 , aeson >=1 && <2.3@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ , githash >=0.1.6.2 , haskeline >=0.6 , hledger- , hledger-lib >=1.52.1 && <1.53+ , hledger-lib >=1.52.2 && <1.53 , html , http-client , http-types