hledger-1.52: embeddedfiles/hledger.info
This is hledger.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.3 from stdin.
INFO-DIR-SECTION User Applications
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* hledger: (hledger). Command-line plain text accounting tool.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
File: hledger.info, Node: Top, Next: PART 1 USER INTERFACE, Up: (dir)
hledger(1)
**********
hledger - a robust, friendly plain text accounting app (command line
version).
'hledger'
or
'hledger COMMAND [OPTS] [ARGS]'
hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs
for tracking money, time, or any other commodity, using double-entry
accounting and a simple, editable file format. hledger is inspired by
and largely compatible with ledger(1), and largely interconvertible with
beancount(1).
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 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 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-*' executables 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 $10
assets:cash
Transactions are dated movements of money (etc.) between two or more
_accounts_: bank accounts, your wallet, revenue/expense categories,
people, etc. You can choose any account names you wish, using ':' to
indicate subaccounts. There must be at least two spaces between account
name and amount. Positive amounts are inflow to that account (_debit_),
negatives are outflow from it (_credit_). (Some reports show revenue,
liability and equity account balances as negative numbers as a result;
this is normal.)
hledger's add command can help you add transactions, or you can
install other data entry UIs like hledger-web or hledger-iadd. For more
extensive/efficient changes, use a text editor: Emacs + ledger-mode, VIM
+ vim-ledger, or VS Code + hledger-vscode are some good choices (see
https://hledger.org/editors.html).
To get started, run 'hledger add' and follow the prompts, or save
some entries like the above in '$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.
* Menu:
* PART 1 USER INTERFACE::
* Input::
* Commands::
* Options::
* Output::
* Environment::
* PART 2 DATA FORMATS::
* Journal::
* CSV::
* Timeclock::
* Timedot::
* PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS::
* Time periods::
* Depth::
* Queries::
* Pivoting::
* Generating data::
* Forecasting::
* Budgeting::
* Amount formatting::
* Cost reporting::
* Value reporting::
* PART 4 COMMANDS::
* Help commands::
* User interface commands::
* Data entry commands::
* Basic report commands::
* Standard report commands::
* Advanced report commands::
* Chart commands::
* Data generation commands::
* Maintenance commands::
* PART 5 COMMON TASKS::
* BUGS::
File: hledger.info, Node: PART 1 USER INTERFACE, Next: Input, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 PART 1: USER INTERFACE
************************
File: hledger.info, Node: Input, Next: Commands, Prev: PART 1 USER INTERFACE, Up: Top
2 Input
*******
hledger reads one or more data files, each time you run it. You can
specify 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,
perhaps 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.
* Menu:
* Text encoding::
* Data formats::
* Standard input::
* Multiple files::
* Strict mode::
File: hledger.info, Node: Text encoding, Next: Data formats, Up: Input
2.1 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
'encoding' 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Data formats, Next: Standard input, Prev: Text encoding, Up: Input
2.2 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'
Ledger journals, for '.hledger' '.ledger'
transactions
'timeclock' timeclock files, for precise '.timeclock'
time logging
'timedot' timedot files, for approximate '.timedot'
time logging
'csv' Comma- or other '.csv'
delimiter-separated values, for
data import
'ssv' Semicolon separated values '.ssv'
'tsv' Tab separated values '.tsv'
'rules' CSV/SSV/TSV/other separated '.rules'
values, 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' format. So for non-journal files, it's important to use a
recognised file extension, so as to either read successfully or to show
relevant error messages.
You can also force a specific reader/format by prefixing the file
path with the format and a colon. Eg, to read a .dat file containing
tab separated values:
$ hledger -f tsv:/some/file.dat stats
File: hledger.info, Node: Standard input, Next: Multiple files, Prev: Data formats, Up: Input
2.3 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:-
File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple files, Next: Strict mode, Prev: Standard input, Up: Input
2.4 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 corresponding 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Strict mode, Prev: Multiple files, Up: Input
2.5 Strict mode
===============
hledger checks input files for valid data. By default, the most
important errors are detected, while still accepting easy journal files
without a lot of declarations:
* Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ?
* Are all transactions balanced ?
* Do all balance assertions pass ?
With the '-s'/'--strict' flag, additional checks are performed:
* Are all accounts posted to, declared with an 'account' directive ?
(Account error checking)
* Are all commodities declared with a 'commodity' directive ?
(Commodity error checking)
* Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?
You can use the check command to run individual checks - the ones
listed above and some more.
File: hledger.info, Node: Commands, Next: Options, Prev: Input, Up: Top
3 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 'incomestatement'.
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'.
* Menu:
* Add-on commands::
File: hledger.info, Node: Add-on commands, Up: Commands
3.1 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/
directory, 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Options, Next: Output, Prev: Commands, Up: Top
4 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 combined 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 filter 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.
* Menu:
* Special characters::
* Unicode characters::
* Regular expressions::
* Argument files::
* Config files::
* Shell completions::
File: hledger.info, Node: Special characters, Next: Unicode characters, Up: Options
4.1 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 backslashes 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 '$', it's fine.
Just be aware of this topic so you can check this doc when needed.
(These examples are mostly tested on unix; some details might need to be
adapted if you're on Windows.)
* Menu:
* Escaping shell special characters::
* Escaping regular expression special characters::
* Escaping in other situations::
File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping shell special characters, Next: Escaping regular expression special characters, Up: Special characters
4.1.1 Escaping shell special characters
---------------------------------------
These are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell
(the program which interprets command lines):
* SPACE, '<', '>', '(', ')', '|', '\', '%'
* '$' 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping regular expression special characters, Next: Escaping in other situations, Prev: Escaping shell special characters, Up: Special characters
4.1.2 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
backslashes to escape from regular expressions, then enclose with quotes
to escape from the shell:
$ hledger balance cur:'\$'
File: hledger.info, Node: Escaping in other situations, Prev: Escaping regular expression special characters, Up: Special characters
4.1.3 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 Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable
'powershell' interpolation)
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
file regex-escape, 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)
File: hledger.info, Node: Unicode characters, Next: Regular expressions, Prev: Special characters, Up: Options
4.2 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions, Next: Argument files, Prev: Unicode characters, Up: Options
4.3 Regular expressions
=======================
A regular expression (regexp) is a small piece of text where certain
characters (like '.', '^', '$', '+', '*', '()', '|', '[]', '\') have
special meanings, forming a tiny language for matching text precisely -
very useful in hledger and elsewhere. To learn all about them, visit
regular-expressions.info.
hledger supports regexps whenever you are entering a pattern to match
something, eg in query arguments, account aliases, CSV if rules,
hledger-web's search form, hledger-ui's '/' search, etc. You may need
to wrap them in quotes, especially at the command line (see Special
characters above). Here are some examples:
Account name queries (quoted for command line use):
Regular expression: Matches:
------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------
bank assets:bank, assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy, ...
:bank assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy
:bank: assets:bank:savings
'^bank' none of those ( ^ matches beginning of text )
'bank$' 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)$
* Menu:
* hledger's regular expressions::
File: hledger.info, Node: hledger's regular expressions, Up: Regular expressions
4.3.1 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 support:
1. they are case insensitive
2. they are infix matching (they do not need to match the entire thing
being matched)
3. they are POSIX ERE (extended regular expressions)
4. they also support GNU word boundaries ('\b', '\B', '\<', '\>')
5. backreferences are supported when doing text replacement in account
aliases or CSV rules, where backreferences can be used in the
replacement string to reference capturing groups in the search
regexp. Otherwise, if you write '\1', it will match the digit '1'.
6. they do not support lazy quantifiers ('*?'), mode modifiers
('(?s)'), character classes ('\w', '\d'), or anything else not
mentioned above.
7. they may not (I'm guessing not) properly support right-to-left or
bidirectional 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 '$' as
a literal character, prepend a backslash. Eg to search for amounts
with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write 'cur:\$'.
* On the command line, some metacharacters like '$' have a special
meaning to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more.
See Special characters.
File: hledger.info, Node: Argument files, Next: Config files, Prev: Regular expressions, Up: Options
4.4 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Config files, Next: Shell completions, Prev: Argument files, Up: Options
4.5 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/simonmichael/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 argument 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
troubleshooting. 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
predictable 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Shell completions, Prev: Config files, Up: Options
4.6 Shell completions
=====================
If you use the bash or zsh shells, you can optionally set up
context-sensitive 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Output, Next: Environment, Prev: Options, Up: Top
5 Output
********
* Menu:
* Output destination::
* Output format::
* Commodity styles::
* Debug output::
File: hledger.info, Node: Output destination, Next: Output format, Up: Output
5.1 Output destination
======================
hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default. You can
of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax:
$ hledger print > foo.txt
Some commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also
provide the '-o'/'--output-file' option, which does the same thing
without needing the shell. Eg:
$ hledger print -o foo.txt
$ hledger print -o - # write to stdout (the default)
File: hledger.info, Node: Output format, Next: Commodity styles, Prev: Output destination, Up: Output
5.2 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'/'--output-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.
* Menu:
* Text output::
* HTML output::
* CSV / TSV output::
* FODS output::
* Beancount output::
* SQL output::
* JSON output::
File: hledger.info, Node: Text output, Next: HTML output, Up: Output format
5.2.1 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 correctly. (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 situation include '--layout=bare', '-X COMM',
'cur:', '--transpose', '--tree', '--depth', '--drop', switching to html
output, etc.
* Menu:
* Box-drawing characters::
* Colour::
* Paging::
File: hledger.info, Node: Box-drawing characters, Next: Colour, Up: Text output
5.2.1.1 Box-drawing characters
..............................
hledger draws simple table borders by default, to minimise the risk of
display problems caused by a terminal/font not supporting box-drawing
characters.
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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Colour, Next: Paging, Prev: Box-drawing characters, Up: Text output
5.2.1.2 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 disable 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Paging, Prev: Colour, Up: Text output
5.2.1.3 Paging
..............
In unix-like environments, when displaying large output (in any output
format) 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 exception: '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 handle 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: HTML output, Next: CSV / TSV output, Prev: Text output, Up: Output format
5.2.2 HTML output
-----------------
HTML output can be styled by an optional 'hledger.css' file in the same
directory.
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 locale's text encoding (see Text encoding).
File: hledger.info, Node: CSV / TSV output, Next: FODS output, Prev: HTML output, Up: Output format
5.2.3 CSV / TSV output
----------------------
In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands separators)
are disabled automatically.
File: hledger.info, Node: FODS output, Next: Beancount output, Prev: CSV / TSV output, Up: Output format
5.2.4 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 computation), styles (bold), borders. Btw. you can still extract
CSV from FODS/ODS using various utilities like 'libreoffice --headless'
or ods2csv.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount output, Next: SQL output, Prev: FODS output, Up: Output format
5.2.5 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 conventions, 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 temporarily, 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.
* Menu:
* Beancount account names::
* Beancount commodity names::
* Beancount virtual postings::
* Beancount metadata::
* Beancount costs::
* Beancount operating currency::
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount account names, Next: Beancount commodity names, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.1 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount commodity names, Next: Beancount virtual postings, Prev: Beancount account names, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.2 Beancount commodity names
.................................
hledger will adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount
commodity/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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount virtual postings, Next: Beancount metadata, Prev: Beancount commodity names, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.3 Beancount virtual postings
..................................
Beancount doesn't allow virtual postings; if you have any, they will be
omitted from beancount output.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount metadata, Next: Beancount costs, Prev: Beancount virtual postings, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.4 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-compatible: beginning with a lowercase letter, at least two
characters long, and with unsupported characters encoded. Metadata
values will use Beancount'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"'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount costs, Next: Beancount operating currency, Prev: Beancount metadata, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.5 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Beancount operating currency, Prev: Beancount costs, Up: Beancount output
5.2.5.6 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 declaration, like
option "operating_currency" "USD"
File: hledger.info, Node: SQL output, Next: JSON output, Prev: Beancount output, Up: Output format
5.2.6 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
probably want to either clear data from these (via 'delete' or
'truncate' SQL statements) 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: JSON output, Prev: SQL output, Up: Output format
5.2.7 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/simonmichael/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 numbers 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity styles, Next: Debug output, Prev: Output format, Up: Output
5.3 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 always 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
commodities/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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Debug output, Prev: Commodity styles, Up: Output
5.4 Debug output
================
We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and
develop. You can add '--debug[=N]' to any hledger command line to see
additional debug output. N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to
9 (maximum output). Typically you would start with 1 and increase until
you are seeing enough. Debug output goes to stderr, and is not affected
by '-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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Environment, Next: PART 2 DATA FORMATS, Prev: Output, Up: Top
6 Environment
*************
These environment variables affect hledger:
*HLEDGER_LESS* If 'less' is your pager, this variable specifies the
'less' options 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: PART 2 DATA FORMATS, Next: Journal, Prev: Environment, Up: Top
7 PART 2: DATA FORMATS
**********************
File: hledger.info, Node: Journal, Next: CSV, Prev: PART 2 DATA FORMATS, Up: Top
8 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 extension 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
format, but not all of it. The differences and interoperation tips are
described at hledger and Ledger. With some care, and by avoiding
incompatible features, you can keep your hledger journal readable by
Ledger and vice versa. This can useful eg for comparing the behaviour
of one app against the other.
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-vscode 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 cheatsheet/overview, followed by detailed descriptions of each
part.
* Menu:
* Journal cheatsheet::
* Comments::
* Transactions::
* Dates::
* Status::
* Code::
* Description::
* Transaction comments::
* Postings::
* Account names::
* Amounts::
* Costs::
* Cost basis / lot syntax::
* Balance assertions::
* Posting comments::
* Transaction balancing::
* Tags::
* Directives::
* account directive::
* alias directive::
* commodity directive::
* decimal-mark directive::
* include directive::
* P directive::
* payee directive::
* tag directive::
* Periodic transactions::
* Auto postings::
* Other syntax::
File: hledger.info, Node: Journal cheatsheet, Next: Comments, Up: Journal
8.1 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Comments, Next: Transactions, Prev: Journal cheatsheet, Up: Journal
8.2 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Transactions, Next: Dates, Prev: Comments, Up: Journal
8.3 Transactions
================
Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file. They
represent events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities
between two or more named accounts.
Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a
simple date in column 0. This can be followed by any of the following
optional fields, separated by spaces:
* a status character (empty, '!', or '*')
* a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses)
* a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon)
* a comment (any remaining text following a semicolon until end of
line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon)
* 0 or more indented _posting_ lines, describing what was transferred
and the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also allowed,
but not blank lines or non-indented lines).
Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction:
2008/01/01 income
assets:bank:checking $1
income:salary $-1
File: hledger.info, Node: Dates, Next: Status, Prev: Transactions, Up: Journal
8.4 Dates
=========
* Menu:
* Simple dates::
* Posting dates::
File: hledger.info, Node: Simple dates, Next: Posting dates, Up: Dates
8.4.1 Simple dates
------------------
Dates in the journal file use _simple dates_ format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' or
'YYYY/MM/DD' or 'YYYY.MM.DD', with leading zeros optional. The year may
be omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context: the
current transaction, the default year set with a 'Y' directive, or the
current date when the command is run. Some examples: '2010-01-31',
'2010/01/31', '2010.1.31', '1/31'.
(The UI also accepts simple dates, as well as the more flexible smart
dates documented in the hledger manual.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Posting dates, Prev: Simple dates, Up: Dates
8.4.2 Posting dates
-------------------
You can give individual postings a different date from their parent
transaction, by adding a posting comment containing a tag (see below)
like '; date:DATE'. (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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Status, Next: Code, Prev: Dates, Up: Journal
8.5 Status
==========
Transactions (or individual postings within a transaction) can have a
status mark, which is a single character before the transaction
description (or posting account name), separated from it by a space,
indicating one of three statuses:
mark status
-----------------
unmarked
'!' pending
'*' cleared
When reporting, you can filter by status with the '-U/--unmarked',
'-P/--pending', and '-C/--cleared' flags (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 transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c.
What "uncleared", "pending", and "cleared" actually mean is up to
you. Here's one suggestion:
status meaning
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
uncleared recorded but not yet reconciled; needs review
pending tentatively reconciled (if needed, eg during a big
reconciliation)
cleared complete, reconciled as far as possible, and considered
correct
With this scheme, you would use '-PC' to see the current balance at
your bank, '-U' to see things which will probably hit your bank soon
(like uncashed checks), and no flags to see the most up-to-date state of
your finances.
File: hledger.info, Node: Code, Next: Description, Prev: Status, Up: Journal
8.6 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Description, Next: Transaction comments, Prev: Code, Up: Journal
8.7 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'.
* Menu:
* Payee and note::
File: hledger.info, Node: Payee and note, Up: Description
8.7.1 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)
character 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 payees. (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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction comments, Next: Postings, Prev: Description, Up: Journal
8.8 Transaction comments
========================
Text following ';', after a transaction description, and/or on indented
lines immediately below it, form comments for that transaction. They
are reproduced 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Postings, Next: Account names, Prev: Transaction comments, Up: Journal
8.9 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 typing.
* Menu:
* Debits and credits::
File: hledger.info, Node: Debits and credits, Up: Postings
8.9.1 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'_
File: hledger.info, Node: Account names, Next: Amounts, Prev: Postings, Up: Journal
8.10 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
contain 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.
* Menu:
* Two space delimiter::
* Account hierarchy::
* Other account name features::
File: hledger.info, Node: Two space delimiter, Next: Account hierarchy, Up: Account names
8.10.1 Two space delimiter
--------------------------
Note the *two or more spaces* delimiter that's sometimes required after
account 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 example, 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 expression 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Account hierarchy, Next: Other account name features, Prev: Two space delimiter, Up: Account names
8.10.2 Account hierarchy
------------------------
For more precise reporting, we usually divide accounts into more
detailed subaccounts, subsubaccounts, and so on, by writing a full colon
between account 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Other account name features, Prev: Account hierarchy, Up: Account names
8.10.3 Other account name features
----------------------------------
Enclosing the account name in parentheses or brackets, like
'(expenses:food)', enables a non-standard bookkeeping feature: virtual
postings.
Account names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or
permanently, by account aliases.
File: hledger.info, Node: Amounts, Next: Costs, Prev: Account names, Up: Journal
8.11 Amounts
============
After the account name, there is usually an amount. (Remember: between
account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.)
hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting several international
formats. Here are some examples. Amounts have a number (the
"quantity"):
1
..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this
below), to the left or right of the quantity, with or without a
separating space:
$1
4000 AAPL
3 "green apples"
Amounts can be preceded by a minus sign (or a plus sign, though plus
is the default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side
commodity symbol:
-$1
$-1
One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable
when parsing (but they won't be displayed in output):
+ $1
$- 1
Scientific E notation is allowed:
1E-6
EUR 1E3
* Menu:
* Decimal marks::
* Digit group marks::
* Commodity::
File: hledger.info, Node: Decimal marks, Next: Digit group marks, Up: Amounts
8.11.1 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Digit group marks, Next: Commodity, Prev: Decimal marks, Up: Amounts
8.11.2 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
(several 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity, Prev: Digit group marks, Up: Amounts
8.11.3 Commodity
----------------
Amounts in hledger have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal
number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or
any word or phrase describing something you are tracking.
If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or
punctuation), you must always write it inside double quotes ('"green
apples"', '"ABC123"').
If you write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with
name '""'; we call that the "no-symbol commodity".
Actually, hledger combines these single-commodity amounts into more
powerful multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of
the time. A multi-commodity amount could be, eg: '1 USD, 2 EUR, 3.456
TSLA'. In practice, you will only see multi-commodity amounts in
hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file.
By default, the format of amounts in the journal influences how
hledger displays them in output. This is explained in Commodity display
style below.
File: hledger.info, Node: Costs, Next: Cost basis / lot syntax, Prev: Amounts, Up: Journal
8.12 Costs
==========
In traditional double entry bookkeeping, to record a transaction where
one commodity is exchanged for another, you add extra equity postings to
balance the two commodities. Eg:
2026-01-01 buy euros
assets:dollars $-123
equity:conversion $123
equity:conversion €-100
assets:euros €100
hledger offers a more convenient @/@@ "cost notation" as an
alternative: instead of equity postings, you can write the "conversion
rate" or "transacted 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 €100 @ $1.23 ; unit cost (exchange rate)
or:
2026-01-01 buy euros
assets:dollars $-123
assets:euros €100 @@ $123 ; total cost
The cost should normally be a positive amount. Negative costs are
supported, 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 €100 @ $1.23
or:
2026-01-01 buy euros
assets:dollars ; $-123 is inferred
assets:euros €100 @@ $123
or even:
2026-01-01 buy euros
assets:euros €100 ; @@ $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 postings 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
'--infer-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 error message saying that the transaction is unbalanced.):
2026-01-01 buy euros
assets:dollars $-123
equity:conversion $123
equity:conversion €-100
assets:euros €100 @ $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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Cost basis / lot syntax, Next: Balance assertions, Prev: Costs, Up: Journal
8.13 Cost basis / lot syntax
============================
If you are buying some commodity to hold as an investment, it may be
important 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
acquisitions on the same day, or to serve as a mnemonic for easy
reference.
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.
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, 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assertions, Next: Posting comments, Prev: Cost basis / lot syntax, Up: Journal
8.14 Balance assertions
=======================
hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files.
These look like, for example, '= EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's
amount. Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance in accounts a and
b after each posting:
2013/1/1
a $1 = $1
b = $-1
2013/1/2
a $1 = $2
b $-1 = $-2
After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance
assertions and report an error if any of them fail. Balance assertions
can protect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled balances
while cleaning up old entries. You can disable them temporarily with
the '-I/--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for
troubleshooting or for reading Ledger files. (Note: this flag currently
does not disable balance assignments, described below).
* Menu:
* Assertions and ordering::
* Assertions and multiple files::
* Assertions and costs::
* Assertions and commodities::
* Assertions and subaccounts::
* Assertions and status::
* Assertions and virtual postings::
* Assertions and auto postings::
* Assertions and precision::
* Assertions and hledger add::
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and ordering, Next: Assertions and multiple files, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.1 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and multiple files, Next: Assertions and costs, Prev: Assertions and ordering, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.2 Assertions and multiple files
------------------------------------
If an account has transactions appearing in multiple files, balance
assertions 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
stable 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and costs, Next: Assertions and commodities, Prev: Assertions and multiple files, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.3 Assertions and costs
---------------------------
Balance assertions ignore costs, and should normally be written without
one:
2019/1/1
(a) $1 @ €1 = $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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and commodities, Next: Assertions and subaccounts, Prev: Assertions and costs, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.4 Assertions and commodities
---------------------------------
The balance assertions described so far are "*single commodity balance
assertions*": 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 commodity:
2013/1/1
usd $-1
eur €-1
both
2013/1/2
both 0 = $1
both 0 = €1
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 €-1 == €-1
both ;== $1 ; this one would fail because 'both' contains $ and €
It's less easy to make a "*sole commodities balance assertion*" (note
the plural) - ie, asserting that an account contains two or more
specified commodities 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
itself:
2013/1/1
usd $-1
eur €-1
both 0 == 0 ; nothing up my sleeve
both:usd $1 == $1 ; a dollar here
both:eur €1 == €1 ; a euro there
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and subaccounts, Next: Assertions and status, Prev: Assertions and commodities, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.5 Assertions and subaccounts
---------------------------------
All of the balance assertions above (both '=' and '==') are
"*subaccount-exclusive 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and status, Next: Assertions and virtual postings, Prev: Assertions and subaccounts, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.6 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and virtual postings, Next: Assertions and auto postings, Prev: Assertions and status, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.7 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and auto postings, Next: Assertions and precision, Prev: Assertions and virtual postings, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.8 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 optional in hledger, accounts affected by them effectively have two
balances. But balance assertions can only test one or the other of
these. So to avoid making fragile assertions, either:
* 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and precision, Next: Assertions and hledger add, Prev: Assertions and auto postings, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.9 Assertions and precision
-------------------------------
Balance assertions compare the exactly calculated amounts, which are not
always what is shown by reports. Eg a commodity directive may limit the
display precision, but this will not affect balance assertions. Balance
assertion failure messages show exact amounts.
File: hledger.info, Node: Assertions and hledger add, Prev: Assertions and precision, Up: Balance assertions
8.14.10 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
validated against the existing assertions in the journal. This means it
is possible for an added transaction to fail even if its assertions are
correct 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Posting comments, Next: Transaction balancing, Prev: Balance assertions, Up: Journal
8.15 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Transaction balancing, Next: Tags, Prev: Posting comments, Up: Journal
8.16 Transaction balancing
==========================
How exactly does hledger decide when a transaction is balanced ?
Especially when it involves costs, which often are not exact, because of
repeating 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 suitable 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 precision seen for A in the journal entry (excluding
cost amounts). This makes transaction balancing robust; any imbalances
must be visibly accounted 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 journal 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 digits that are raising the precision)
3. or add a posting to absorb the imbalance (eg
"expenses:rounding". Remember that one posting may omit the
amount; that's convenient here.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Tags, Next: Directives, Prev: Transaction balancing, Up: Journal
8.17 Tags
=========
Tags are a way to add extra labels or data fields to transactions,
postings, 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
transaction:
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
* Menu:
* Tag propagation::
* Displaying tags::
* When to use tags ?::
* Tag names::
File: hledger.info, Node: Tag propagation, Next: Displaying tags, Up: Tags
8.17.1 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 postings, or accounts, it's good to understand how tags
behave. Here's an example 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:checking account no tags attached
expenses:food atag atag: in comment
account
assets:checkingp1tag, ttag p1tag: in comment, ttag acquired from
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
transaction p2tag, atag posting, p2tag and atag from second
posting
File: hledger.info, Node: Displaying tags, Next: When to use tags ?, Prev: Tag propagation, Up: Tags
8.17.2 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: When to use tags ?, Next: Tag names, Prev: Displaying tags, Up: Tags
8.17.3 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Tag names, Prev: When to use tags ?, Up: Tags
8.17.4 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' directive, 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Directives, Next: account directive, Prev: Tags, Up: Journal
8.18 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
subdirectives, 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 '~'
budget goals
Generate extra postings on existing '='
transactions
*CHECKING FOR ERRORS:*
Define valid entities to provide more 'account', 'commodity',
error checking 'payee', 'tag'
*REPORTING:*
Declare accounts' type and display 'account'
order
Declare commodity display styles 'commodity'
Declare market prices 'P'
* Menu:
* Directives and multiple files::
* Directive effects::
File: hledger.info, Node: Directives and multiple files, Next: Directive effects, Up: Directives
8.18.1 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
entries 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Directive effects, Prev: Directives and multiple files, Up: Directives
8.18.2 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:
directivewhat it does ends
at
file
end?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
*'account'*Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files; andN
its display order and type. Subdirectives: any text, ignored.
*'alias'*Rewrites account names, in following entries until end of Y
current file or 'end aliases'. Command line equivalent:
'--alias'
*'comment'*Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current file orY
'end comment'.
*'commodity'*Declares up to four things: 1. a commodity symbol, for checkingN,N,Y,Y
all amounts in all files 2. the display style for all amounts
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'
*'decimal-mark'*Declares the decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all Y
commodities in following entries until next 'decimal-mark' or
end of current file. Included files can override. Takes
precedence over 'commodity' and 'D'.
*'include'*Includes entries and directives from another file, as if theyN
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:
*'applyPrepends a common parent account to all account names, in Y
account'*following 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).
*OtherOther directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but
Ledgerignored.
directives*
File: hledger.info, Node: account directive, Next: alias directive, Prev: Directives, Up: Journal
8.19 'account' directive
========================
'account' directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places
that amounts are transferred from and to). Though not required, these
declarations can provide several benefits:
* They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a
reference.
* They can 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,
equity, revenue, expense), enabling reports like balancesheet and
incomestatement.
* 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
* Menu:
* Account comments::
* Account tags::
* Account error checking::
* Account display order::
* Account types::
File: hledger.info, Node: Account comments, Next: Account tags, Up: account directive
8.19.1 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 comments for that account.
Same-line account comments require two+ spaces before ';' because
that character 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Account tags, Next: Account error checking, Prev: Account comments, Up: account directive
8.19.2 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Account error checking, Next: Account display order, Prev: Account tags, Up: account directive
8.19.3 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 incorrect 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 account name that has not been declared by an
account directive. Some notes:
* The declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the
correct account name capitalisation.
* The account directive's scope is "whole file and below" (see
directives). This means it affects all of the current file, and
any files it includes, but not parent or sibling files. The
position of account directives within the file does not matter,
though it's usual to put them at the top.
* Accounts can only be declared in 'journal' files, but will affect
included files 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Account display order, Next: Account types, Prev: Account error checking, Up: account directive
8.19.4 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
alphabetical 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Account types, Prev: Account display order, Up: account directive
8.19.5 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
Equity)
'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
inherit 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
incomestatement 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 account. 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: alias directive, Next: commodity directive, Prev: account directive, Up: Journal
8.20 '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
correctly, but you can also generate invalid account names with them;
more on this below.
See also Rewrite account names.
* Menu:
* Basic aliases::
* Regex aliases::
* Combining aliases::
* Aliases and multiple files::
* end aliases directive::
* Aliases can generate bad account names::
* Aliases and account types::
File: hledger.info, Node: Basic aliases, Next: Regex aliases, Up: alias directive
8.20.1 Basic aliases
--------------------
To set an account alias, use the 'alias' directive in your journal file.
This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or its
included files (but note: not sibling or parent files). The spaces
around the = are optional:
alias OLD = NEW
Or, you can use the '--alias 'OLD=NEW'' option on the command line.
This affects all entries. It's useful for trying out aliases
interactively.
OLD and NEW are case sensitive full account names. hledger will
replace any occurrence of the old account name with the new one.
Subaccounts are also affected. Eg:
alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a"
File: hledger.info, Node: Regex aliases, Next: Combining aliases, Prev: Basic aliases, Up: alias directive
8.20.2 Regex aliases
--------------------
There is also a more powerful variant that uses a regular expression,
indicated by wrapping the pattern in forward slashes. (This is the only
place where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular
expression.)
Eg:
alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT
or:
$ hledger --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' ...
Any part of an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by
REPLACEMENT. 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 option argument), so it can contain trailing whitespace.
File: hledger.info, Node: Combining aliases, Next: Aliases and multiple files, Prev: Regex aliases, Up: alias directive
8.20.3 Combining aliases
------------------------
You can define as many aliases as you like, using journal directives
and/or command line options.
Recursive aliases - where an account name is rewritten by one alias,
then by another alias, and so on - are allowed. Each alias sees the
effect of previously applied aliases.
In such cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be
applied and in which order. For (each account name in) each journal
entry, we apply:
1. 'alias' directives preceding the journal entry, most recently
parsed first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to
top)
2. '--alias' options, in the order they appeared on the command line
(left to right).
In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:
* the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied
first
* the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on
* aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.
This gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps
provide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way
independent of which files are being read and in which order.
In case of trouble, adding '--debug=6' to the command line will show
which aliases are being applied when.
File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and multiple files, Next: end aliases directive, Prev: Combining aliases, Up: alias directive
8.20.4 Aliases and multiple files
---------------------------------
As explained at Directives and multiple files, 'alias' directives do not
affect parent or sibling files. Eg in this command,
hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal
account aliases defined in a.aliases will not affect b.journal.
Including the aliases doesn't work either:
include a.aliases
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
File: hledger.info, Node: end aliases directive, Next: Aliases can generate bad account names, Prev: Aliases and multiple files, Up: alias directive
8.20.5 '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
File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases can generate bad account names, Next: Aliases and account types, Prev: end aliases directive, Up: alias directive
8.20.6 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 illegal double space, causing 'print' output that would give a
different journal when reparsed:
2021-01-01
old 1
other
$ hledger print --alias old="new USD" | hledger -f- print
2021-01-01
new USD 1
other
File: hledger.info, Node: Aliases and account types, Prev: Aliases can generate bad account names, Up: alias directive
8.20.7 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 parent accounts but not their children, or vice versa) could
prevent child accounts 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 accounts as you expect, try troubleshooting with the accounts
command, eg something like:
$ hledger accounts --types -1 --alias assets=bassetts
File: hledger.info, Node: commodity directive, Next: decimal-mark directive, Prev: alias directive, Up: Journal
8.21 '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 Commodity 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)
* Menu:
* Commodity directive syntax::
* Commodity tags::
* Commodity error checking::
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity directive syntax, Next: Commodity tags, Up: commodity directive
8.21.1 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 number'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
enclosed 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'
subdirective, 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity tags, Next: Commodity error checking, Prev: Commodity directive syntax, Up: commodity directive
8.21.2 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity error checking, Prev: Commodity tags, Up: commodity directive
8.21.3 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark directive, Next: include directive, Prev: commodity directive, Up: Journal
8.22 '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 parsing amounts in this file. It can look like
decimal-mark .
or
decimal-mark ,
This prevents any ambiguity when parsing numbers in the file, so we
recommend it, especially if the file contains digit group marks (eg
thousands separators).
File: hledger.info, Node: include directive, Next: P directive, Prev: decimal-mark directive, Up: Journal
8.23 'include' directive
========================
You can pull in the content of additional files by writing an include
directive, 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,
recursively.)
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:
'include ~/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 directory (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).
File: hledger.info, Node: P directive, Next: payee directive, Prev: include directive, Up: Journal
8.24 '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 exchange, or the foreign exchange market.
The format is:
P DATE COMMODITY1SYMBOL COMMODITY2AMOUNT
DATE is a simple date, COMMODITY1SYMBOL is the symbol of the
commodity being priced, and COMMODITY2AMOUNT is the amount (symbol and
quantity) of commodity 2 that one unit of commodity 1 is worth on this
date. Examples:
# one euro was worth $1.35 from 2009-01-01 onward:
P 2009-01-01 € $1.35
# and $1.40 from 2010-01-01 onward:
P 2010-01-01 € $1.40
The '-V', '-X' and '--value' flags use these market prices to show
amount values in another commodity. See Value reporting.
File: hledger.info, Node: payee directive, Next: tag directive, Prev: P directive, Up: Journal
8.25 'payee' directive
======================
payee PAYEE NAME
This directive can be used to declare a limited set of payees which
may appear in transaction descriptions. The "payees" check will report
an error if any transaction refers to a payee that has not been
declared. Eg:
payee Whole Foods ; 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: tag directive, Next: Periodic transactions, Prev: payee directive, Up: Journal
8.26 '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 .
File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic transactions, Next: Auto postings, Prev: tag directive, Up: Journal
8.27 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 forecasting 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 budget 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
improvement, but is worth studying.
6. Some period expressions with a repeating interval must begin on a
natural boundary of that interval. Eg in 'weekly from DATE', DATE
must be a monday. '~ weekly from 2019/10/1' (a tuesday) will give
an error.
7. Other period expressions with an interval are automatically
expanded to cover a whole number of that interval. (This is done
to improve reports, but it also affects periodic transactions.
Yes, it's a bit inconsistent with the above.) Eg: '~ every 10th
day of month from 2023/01', which is equivalent to '~ every 10th
day of month from 2023/01/01', will be adjusted to start on
2019/12/10.
* Menu:
* Periodic rule syntax::
* Periodic rules and relative dates::
* Two spaces between period expression and description!::
File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rule syntax, Next: Periodic rules and relative dates, Up: Periodic transactions
8.27.1 Periodic rule syntax
---------------------------
A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with the
date replaced by a tilde ('~') followed by a period expression
(mnemonic: '~' looks like a recurring sine wave.):
# 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Periodic rules and relative dates, Next: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Prev: Periodic rule syntax, Up: Periodic transactions
8.27.2 Periodic rules and relative dates
----------------------------------------
Partial or relative dates (like '12/31', '25', 'tomorrow', 'last week',
'next quarter') 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Two spaces between period expression and description!, Prev: Periodic rules and relative dates, Up: Periodic transactions
8.27.3 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
expression.
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings, Next: Other syntax, Prev: Periodic transactions, Up: Journal
8.28 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
commodity 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.
* Menu:
* Auto postings and multiple files::
* Auto postings and dates::
* Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions::
* Auto posting tags::
* Auto postings on forecast transactions only::
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and multiple files, Next: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings
8.28.1 Auto postings and multiple files
---------------------------------------
An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or
in any parent file or child file. Note, currently it will not affect
sibling files (when multiple '-f'/'--file' are used - see #1212).
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and dates, Next: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Prev: Auto postings and multiple files, Up: Auto postings
8.28.2 Auto postings and dates
------------------------------
A posting date (or secondary date) in the matched posting, or (taking
precedence) a posting date in the auto posting rule itself, will also be
used in the generated posting.
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Next: Auto posting tags, Prev: Auto postings and dates, Up: Auto postings
8.28.3 Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts /
-------------------------------------------------------------------
balance assertions Currently, auto postings are added:
* after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked
for balancedness,
* but before balance assertions are checked.
Note this means that journal entries must be balanced both before and
after auto postings are added. This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893
for background.
This also means that you cannot have more than one auto-posting with
a missing amount applied to a given transaction, as it will be unable to
infer amounts.
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto posting tags, Next: Auto postings on forecast transactions only, Prev: Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance assertions, Up: Auto postings
8.28.4 Auto posting tags
------------------------
Automated postings will have some extra tags:
* 'generated-posting:= QUERY' - shows this was generated by an auto
posting rule, and the query
* '_generated-posting:= QUERY' - a hidden tag, which does not appear
in hledger's output. This can be used to match postings generated
"just now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the
journal.
Also, any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules
will have these tags added:
* 'modified:' - this transaction was modified
* '_modified:' - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this
transaction was modified "just now".
File: hledger.info, Node: Auto postings on forecast transactions only, Prev: Auto posting tags, Up: Auto postings
8.28.5 Auto postings on forecast transactions only
--------------------------------------------------
Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast
transactions 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Other syntax, Prev: Auto postings, Up: Journal
8.29 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 general, features in this section are considered less important or
even not recommended for most users. Downsides are mentioned to help
you decide if you want to use them.
* Menu:
* Balance assignments::
* Bracketed posting dates::
* D directive::
* apply account directive::
* Y directive::
* Secondary dates::
* Star comments::
* Valuation expressions::
* Virtual postings::
* Other Ledger directives::
* Ledger virtual costs::
* Ledger lot syntax::
* Ledger fixed lot costs::
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments, Next: Bracketed posting dates, Up: Other syntax
8.29.1 Balance assignments
--------------------------
Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported. These are like
balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the
equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the
assertion. This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting
opening balances:
; starting a new journal, set asset account balances
2016/1/1 opening balances
assets:checking = $409.32
assets:savings = $735.24
assets:cash = $42
equity:opening balances
or when adjusting a balance to reality:
; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
assets:cash = $0
expenses:misc
The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the
commodity at that point (which depends on the previously-dated postings
of the commodity to that account since the last balance assertion or
assignment).
Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less
explicit; to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do
the calculations yourself, instead of just reading it. Also balance
assignments' forcing of balances can hide errors. These things make
your financial data less portable, less future-proof, and less
trustworthy in an audit.
* Menu:
* Balance assignments and costs::
* Balance assignments and multiple files::
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and costs, Next: Balance assignments and multiple files, Up: Balance assignments
8.29.1.1 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 @ €2
$ hledger print --explicit
2019-01-01
(a) $1 @ €2 = $1 @ €2
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance assignments and multiple files, Prev: Balance assignments and costs, Up: Balance assignments
8.29.1.2 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Bracketed posting dates, Next: D directive, Prev: Balance assignments, Up: Other syntax
8.29.2 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: D directive, Next: apply account directive, Prev: Bracketed posting dates, Up: Other syntax
8.29.3 'D' directive
--------------------
D AMOUNT
This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any
subsequent commodityless amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing
the journal. This effect lasts until the next 'D' directive, or the end
of the current file.
For compatibility/historical reasons, 'D' also acts like a
'commodity' directive (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'
directive is required ('hledger check commodities' ignores 'D'
directives).
Downsides: omitting commodity symbols makes your financial data less
explicit, less portable, and less trustworthy in an audit. It is
usually an unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to
track multiple commodities. D is overloaded with functions redundant
with 'commodity' and 'decimal-mark'. And it works differently from
Ledger's 'D'.
File: hledger.info, Node: apply account directive, Next: Y directive, Prev: D directive, Up: Other syntax
8.29.4 '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 'include'd
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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Y directive, Next: Secondary dates, Prev: apply account directive, Up: Other syntax
8.29.5 '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
trustworthy in an audit. Such dates can get separated from their
corresponding Y directive, eg when evaluating a region of the journal in
your editor. A missing Y directive makes reports dependent on today's
date.
File: hledger.info, Node: Secondary dates, Next: Star comments, Prev: Y directive, Up: Other syntax
8.29.6 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
assumed. When running reports, the primary (left side) date is used by
default, 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
initiated, 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
implementors.
* 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Star comments, Next: Valuation expressions, Prev: Secondary dates, Up: Other syntax
8.29.7 Star comments
--------------------
Lines beginning with '*' (star/asterisk) are also comment lines. This
feature allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal,
allowing them to fold/unfold/navigate it like an outline when viewed
with org mode.
Downsides: another, unconventional comment syntax to learn.
Decreases your journal's portability. And switching to Emacs org mode
just for folding/unfolding meant losing the benefits of ledger mode;
nowadays you can add outshine mode to ledger mode to get folding without
losing ledger mode's features.
File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation expressions, Next: Virtual postings, Prev: Star comments, Up: Other syntax
8.29.8 Valuation expressions
----------------------------
Ledger allows a valuation function or value to be written in double
parentheses after an amount. hledger ignores these.
File: hledger.info, Node: Virtual postings, Next: Other Ledger directives, Prev: Valuation expressions, Up: Other syntax
8.29.9 Virtual postings
-----------------------
A posting with parentheses around the account name, like '(some:account)
10', is called an _unbalanced virtual posting_. These postings do not
participate in transaction balancing. (And if you write them without an
amount, a zero amount is always inferred.) These can occasionally be
convenient for special circumstances, but they violate double entry
bookkeeping and make your data less portable across applications, so
many people avoid using them at all.
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
bracketed, are called _real postings_. You can exclude virtual postings
from reports with the '-R/--real' flag or a 'real:1' query.
File: hledger.info, Node: Other Ledger directives, Next: Ledger virtual costs, Prev: Virtual postings, Up: Other syntax
8.29.10 Other Ledger directives
-------------------------------
These other Ledger directives are currently accepted but ignored. This
allows 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 syntax comparison.
File: hledger.info, Node: Ledger virtual costs, Next: Ledger lot syntax, Prev: Other Ledger directives, Up: Other syntax
8.29.11 Ledger virtual costs
----------------------------
In Ledger, '(@) UNITCOST' and '(@@) TOTALCOST' are virtual costs, which
do not generate market prices. In hledger, these are equivalent to '@'
and '@@'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Ledger lot syntax, Next: Ledger fixed lot costs, Prev: Ledger virtual costs, Up: Other syntax
8.29.12 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
annotations and will show them in 'print''s 'txt', 'beancount', and
'json' output formats. 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Ledger fixed lot costs, Prev: Ledger lot syntax, Up: Other syntax
8.29.13 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 unambiguously (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.
File: hledger.info, Node: CSV, Next: Timeclock, Prev: Journal, Up: Top
9 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 automatically 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 contains rules describing the CSV data (header line, fields layout,
date format etc.), how to construct hledger transactions from it, and
how to categorise transactions based on description or other attributes.
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 specify 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/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/examples/csv.
* Menu:
* CSV rules cheatsheet::
* source::
* archive::
* encoding::
* separator::
* skip::
* date-format::
* timezone::
* newest-first::
* intra-day-reversed::
* decimal-mark::
* CSV fields and hledger fields::
* fields list::
* Field assignment::
* Field names::
* if block::
* Matchers::
* if table::
* balance-type::
* include::
* Working with CSV::
* CSV rules examples::
File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules cheatsheet, Next: source, Up: CSV
9.1 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
relying 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
optionally 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/assignments to generate
*'include'* inline another CSV rules file
Working with CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are
evaluated.
File: hledger.info, Node: source, Next: archive, Prev: CSV rules cheatsheet, Up: CSV
9.2 '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".
* Menu:
* Data cleaning / data generating commands::
File: hledger.info, Node: Data cleaning / data generating commands, Up: source
9.2.1 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 conversion 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._
File: hledger.info, Node: archive, Next: encoding, Prev: source, Up: CSV
9.3 '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 command, 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._
File: hledger.info, Node: encoding, Next: separator, Prev: archive, Up: CSV
9.4 '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 encoding, you can do it by adding 'encoding ENCODING' to your CSV
rules. Eg: 'encoding 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._
File: hledger.info, Node: separator, Next: skip, Prev: encoding, Up: CSV
9.5 'separator'
===============
You can use the 'separator' rule to read other kinds of
character-separated data. The argument is any single separator
character, or the words 'tab' or 'space' (case insensitive). Eg, for
comma-separated values (CSV):
separator ,
or for semicolon-separated values (SSV):
separator ;
or for tab-separated values (TSV):
separator TAB
If the input file has a '.csv', '.ssv' or '.tsv' file extension (or a
'csv:', 'ssv:', 'tsv:' prefix), the appropriate separator will be
inferred automatically, and you won't need this rule.
File: hledger.info, Node: skip, Next: date-format, Prev: separator, Up: CSV
9.6 '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 below), to skip one or more records whenever the condition is
true. Records skipped in this way are ignored, except they are still
required to be valid CSV.
File: hledger.info, Node: date-format, Next: timezone, Prev: skip, Up: CSV
9.7 '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 pattern - see
https://hackage.haskell.org/package/time/docs/Data-Time-Format.html#v:formatTime.
The pattern must parse the CSV date value completely. Some examples:
# 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: timezone, Next: newest-first, Prev: date-format, Up: CSV
9.8 '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 formatTime link above).
In either of these cases, hledger will do a time-zone-aware
conversion, localising the CSV date-times to your current system time
zone. If you prefer to localise to some other time zone, eg for
reproducibility, you can (on unix at least) set the output timezone with
the TZ environment variable, eg:
$ 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: newest-first, Next: intra-day-reversed, Prev: timezone, Up: CSV
9.9 'newest-first'
==================
hledger tries to ensure that the generated transactions will be ordered
chronologically, including same-day transactions. Usually it can
auto-detect how the CSV records are ordered. But if it encounters CSV
where all records are on the same date, it assumes that the records are
oldest first. If in fact the CSV'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
File: hledger.info, Node: intra-day-reversed, Next: decimal-mark, Prev: newest-first, Up: CSV
9.10 '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
File: hledger.info, Node: decimal-mark, Next: CSV fields and hledger fields, Prev: intra-day-reversed, Up: CSV
9.11 'decimal-mark'
===================
decimal-mark .
or:
decimal-mark ,
hledger automatically accepts either period or comma as a decimal
mark when parsing numbers (cf Amounts). However if any numbers in the
CSV contain digit group marks, such as thousand-separating commas, you
should declare the decimal mark explicitly with this rule, to avoid
misparsed numbers.
File: hledger.info, Node: CSV fields and hledger fields, Next: fields list, Prev: decimal-mark, Up: CSV
9.12 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 position in the CSV record, starting with 1. You can also
give them a readable name.
* *hledger fields* are predefined; 'date', 'description', 'account1',
'amount1', 'account2' 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 language. (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'
File: hledger.info, Node: fields list, Next: Field assignment, Prev: CSV fields and hledger fields, Up: CSV
9.13 '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
below), 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 transaction.
Here's an example that says "use the 1st, 2nd and 4th fields as the
transaction's date, description and amount; name the last two fields for
later reference; and ignore the others":
fields date, description, , amount, , , somefield, anotherfield
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 underscores).
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 generating a balance assertion).
File: hledger.info, Node: Field assignment, Next: Field names, Prev: fields list, Up: CSV
9.14 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,
followed 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Field names, Next: if block, Prev: Field assignment, Up: CSV
9.15 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:
* Menu:
* date field::
* date2 field::
* status field::
* code field::
* description field::
* comment field::
* account field::
* amount field::
* currency field::
* balance field::
File: hledger.info, Node: date field, Next: date2 field, Up: Field names
9.15.1 date field
-----------------
Assigning to 'date' sets the transaction date.
File: hledger.info, Node: date2 field, Next: status field, Prev: date field, Up: Field names
9.15.2 date2 field
------------------
'date2' sets the transaction's secondary date, if any.
File: hledger.info, Node: status field, Next: code field, Prev: date2 field, Up: Field names
9.15.3 status field
-------------------
'status' sets the transaction's status, if any.
File: hledger.info, Node: code field, Next: description field, Prev: status field, Up: Field names
9.15.4 code field
-----------------
'code' sets the transaction's code, if any.
File: hledger.info, Node: description field, Next: comment field, Prev: code field, Up: Field names
9.15.5 description field
------------------------
'description' sets the transaction's description, if any.
File: hledger.info, Node: comment field, Next: account field, Prev: description field, Up: Field names
9.15.6 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: account field, Next: amount field, Prev: comment field, Up: Field names
9.15.7 account field
--------------------
Assigning to 'accountN', where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of
the Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated.
Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set 'account1'
and 'account2'. Typically 'account1' is associated with the CSV file,
and is set once with a top-level assignment, while 'account2' is set
based on each transaction's description, in conditional rules.
If a posting's account name is left unset but its amount is set (see
below), a default account name will be chosen (like "expenses:unknown"
or "income:unknown").
File: hledger.info, Node: amount field, Next: currency field, Prev: account field, Up: Field names
9.15.8 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 automatically 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 transactions. The posting numbers don't
have to be consecutive; with if rules, higher posting numbers can
be useful to ensure a certain order of postings.
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.
File: hledger.info, Node: currency field, Next: balance field, Prev: amount field, Up: Field names
9.15.9 currency field
---------------------
'currency' sets a currency symbol, to be prepended to all postings'
amounts. You can use this if the CSV amounts do not have a currency
symbol, eg if it is in a separate column.
'currencyN' prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's
amount.
File: hledger.info, Node: balance field, Prev: currency field, Up: Field names
9.15.10 balance field
---------------------
'balanceN' sets a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is
left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N.
'balance' is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is
equivalent to 'balance1'.
You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with the
'balance-type' rule (see below).
See the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts
and currency.
File: hledger.info, Node: if block, Next: Matchers, Prev: Field names, Up: CSV
9.16 '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 transactions, 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Matchers, Next: if table, Prev: if block, Up: CSV
9.17 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 declared 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.
* Menu:
* Multiple matchers::
* Match groups::
File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple matchers, Next: Match groups, Up: Matchers
9.17.1 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._
File: hledger.info, Node: Match groups, Prev: Multiple matchers, Up: Matchers
9.17.2 Match groups
-------------------
_Added in 1.32_
Matchers can define match groups: parenthesised portions of the
regular expression 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
File: hledger.info, Node: if table, Next: balance-type, Prev: Matchers, Up: CSV
9.18 '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
separator. 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 allowed. 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
File: hledger.info, Node: balance-type, Next: include, Prev: if table, Up: CSV
9.19 'balance-type'
===================
Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple
'=' type by default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding
assertion. You may find the subaccount-including variants more useful,
eg if you have created some virtual subaccounts of checking to help with
budgeting. You can select a different type of assertion with the
'balance-type' rule:
# balance assertions will consider all commodities and all subaccounts
balance-type ==*
Here are the balance assertion types for quick reference:
= single commodity, exclude subaccounts
=* single commodity, include subaccounts
== multi commodity, exclude subaccounts
==* multi commodity, include subaccounts
File: hledger.info, Node: include, Next: Working with CSV, Prev: balance-type, Up: CSV
9.20 'include'
==============
include RULESFILE
This includes the contents of another CSV rules file at this point.
'RULESFILE' is an absolute file path or a path relative to the current
file's directory. This can be useful for sharing common rules between
several rules files, eg:
# someaccount.csv.rules
## someaccount-specific rules
fields date,description,amount
account1 assets:someaccount
account2 expenses:misc
## common rules
include categorisation.rules
File: hledger.info, Node: Working with CSV, Next: CSV rules examples, Prev: include, Up: CSV
9.21 Working with CSV
=====================
Some tips:
* Menu:
* Rapid feedback::
* Valid CSV::
* File Extension::
* Reading CSV from standard input::
* Reading multiple CSV files::
* Reading files specified by rule::
* Valid transactions::
* Deduplicating importing::
* Regular expressions in CSV rules::
* Setting amounts::
* Amount signs::
* Setting currency/commodity::
* Amount decimal places::
* Referencing other fields::
* How CSV rules are evaluated::
* Well factored rules::
File: hledger.info, Node: Rapid feedback, Next: Valid CSV, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.1 Rapid feedback
---------------------
It's a good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting
CSV rules. Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject:
$ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC'
A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a few, transactions
of interest. "bash -c" is used to run multiple commands, so we can echo
a separator each time the command re-runs, making it easier to read the
output.
File: hledger.info, Node: Valid CSV, Next: File Extension, Prev: Rapid feedback, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.2 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: hledger.info, Node: File Extension, Next: Reading CSV from standard input, Prev: Valid CSV, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.3 File Extension
---------------------
To help hledger choose the CSV file reader and show the right error
messages (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 extension. (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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Reading CSV from standard input, Next: Reading multiple CSV files, Prev: File Extension, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.4 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Reading multiple CSV files, Next: Reading files specified by rule, Prev: Reading CSV from standard input, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.5 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Reading files specified by rule, Next: Valid transactions, Prev: Reading multiple CSV files, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.6 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 download 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Valid transactions, Next: Deduplicating importing, Prev: Reading files specified by rule, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.7 Valid transactions
-------------------------
After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the
generated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing
them, applying balance assignments, and canonicalising amount styles.
Any errors at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying
the problem entry.
There is one exception: balance assertions, if you have generated
them, will not be checked, since normally these will work only when the
CSV data is part of the main journal. If you do need to check balance
assertions generated from CSV right away, pipe into another hledger:
$ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print
File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplicating importing, Next: Regular expressions in CSV rules, Prev: Valid transactions, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.8 Deduplicating, importing
-------------------------------
When you download a CSV file periodically, eg to get your latest bank
transactions, the new file may overlap with the old one, containing some
of the same records.
The import command will (a) detect the new transactions, and (b)
append just those transactions to your main journal. It is idempotent,
so you don't have to remember how many times you ran it or with which
version of the CSV. (It keeps state in a hidden '.latest.FILE.csv'
file.) This is the easiest way to import CSV data. Eg:
# download the latest CSV files, then run this command.
# Note, no -f flags needed here.
$ hledger import *.csv [--dry]
This method works for most CSV files. (Where records have a stable
chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.)
A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and
otherwise, exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing
CSV data. See:
* https://hledger.org/cookbook.html#setups-and-workflows
* https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion
File: hledger.info, Node: Regular expressions in CSV rules, Next: Setting amounts, Prev: Deduplicating importing, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.9 Regular expressions in CSV rules
---------------------------------------
Regular expressions in 'if' conditions (AKA matchers) are POSIX extended
regular 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]\.'
File: hledger.info, Node: Setting amounts, Next: Amount signs, Prev: Regular expressions in CSV rules, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.10 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 number 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 explicitly.
File: hledger.info, Node: Amount signs, Next: Setting currency/commodity, Prev: Setting amounts, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.11 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Setting currency/commodity, Next: Amount decimal places, Prev: Amount signs, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.12 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 effect 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Amount decimal places, Next: Referencing other fields, Prev: Setting currency/commodity, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.13 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
original 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Referencing other fields, Next: How CSV rules are evaluated, Prev: Amount decimal places, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.14 Referencing other fields
--------------------------------
In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not hledger
fields. In the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger
field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field, not the
hledger field:
# Name the third CSV field "amount1"
fields date,description,amount1
# Set hledger's amount1 to the CSV amount1 field followed by USD
amount1 %amount1 USD
# Set comment to the CSV amount1 (not the amount1 assigned above)
comment %amount1
Here, since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a
literal "amount1":
fields date,description,csvamount
amount1 %csvamount USD
# Can't interpolate amount1 here
comment %amount1
When there are multiple field assignments to the same hledger field,
only the last one takes effect. Here, comment's value will be be B, or
C if "something" is matched, but never A:
comment A
comment B
if something
comment C
File: hledger.info, Node: How CSV rules are evaluated, Next: Well factored rules, Prev: Referencing other fields, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.15 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 containing 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
assignments, 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 command the user specified.
File: hledger.info, Node: Well factored rules, Prev: How CSV rules are evaluated, Up: Working with CSV
9.21.16 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
'common.rules', and adding 'include common.rules' to each CSV's
rules file.
* Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the
frequently used parts.
File: hledger.info, Node: CSV rules examples, Prev: Working with CSV, Up: CSV
9.22 CSV rules examples
=======================
* Menu:
* Bank of Ireland::
* Coinbase::
* Amazon::
* Paypal::
File: hledger.info, Node: Bank of Ireland, Next: Coinbase, Up: CSV rules examples
9.22.1 Bank of Ireland
----------------------
Here's a CSV with two amount fields (Debit and Credit), and a balance
field, which we can use to add balance assertions, which is not
necessary but provides extra error checking:
Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance
07/12/2012,LODGMENT 529898,,10.0,131.21
07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126
# bankofireland-checking.csv.rules
# skip the header line
skip
# name the csv fields, and assign some of them as journal entry fields
fields date, description, amount-out, amount-in, balance
# We generate balance assertions by assigning to "balance"
# above, but you may sometimes need to remove these because:
#
# - the CSV balance differs from the true balance,
# by up to 0.0000000000005 in my experience
#
# - it is sometimes calculated based on non-chronological ordering,
# eg when multiple transactions clear on the same day
# date is in UK/Ireland format
date-format %d/%m/%Y
# set the currency
currency EUR
# set the base account for all txns
account1 assets:bank:boi:checking
$ hledger -f bankofireland-checking.csv print
2012-12-07 LODGMENT 529898
assets:bank:boi:checking EUR10.0 = EUR131.2
income:unknown EUR-10.0
2012-12-07 PAYMENT
assets:bank:boi:checking EUR-5.0 = EUR126.0
expenses:unknown EUR5.0
The balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're
reading directly from CSV, but they will be checked if these entries are
imported into a journal file.
File: hledger.info, Node: Coinbase, Next: Amazon, Prev: Bank of Ireland, Up: CSV rules examples
9.22.2 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Amazon, Next: Paypal, Prev: Coinbase, Up: CSV rules examples
9.22.3 Amazon
-------------
Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to
generate a third posting if there's a fee. (In practice you'd probably
get this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.)
"Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID"
"Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"
"Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"
# amazon-orders.csv.rules
# skip one header line
skip 1
# name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code.
# Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion.
fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code
# how to parse the date
date-format %b %-d, %Y
# combine two fields to make the description
description %toorfrom %name
# save the status as a tag
comment status:%amzstatus
# set the base account for all transactions
account1 assets:amazon
# leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s).
# I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember
# set a generic account2
account2 expenses:misc
amount2 %amzamount
# and maybe refine it further:
#include categorisation.rules
# add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero.
if %fees [1-9]
account3 expenses:fees
amount3 %fees
$ hledger -f amazon-orders.csv print
2012-07-29 (16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Foo. ; status:Completed
assets:amazon
expenses:misc $20.00
2012-07-30 (17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Adapteva, Inc. ; status:Completed
assets:amazon
expenses:misc $25.00
expenses:fees $1.00
File: hledger.info, Node: Paypal, Prev: Amazon, Up: CSV rules examples
9.22.4 Paypal
-------------
Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV, with some
Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included:
"Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"
"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99",""
"10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00",""
"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00",""
"10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00",""
"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00",""
"10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00",""
"10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41",""
# paypal-custom.csv.rules
# Tips:
# Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download
# Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting"
# Paypal's default fields in 2018 were:
# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact"
# This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields":
# "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"
fields date, time, timezone, description_, type, status_, currency, grossamount, feeamount, netamount, fromemail, toemail, code, itemtitle, itemid, referencetxnid, receiptid, balance, note
skip 1
date-format %-m/%-d/%Y
# ignore some paypal events
if
In Progress
Temporary Hold
Update to
skip
# add more fields to the description
description %description_ %itemtitle
# save some other fields as tags
comment itemid:%itemid, fromemail:%fromemail, toemail:%toemail, time:%time, type:%type, status:%status_
# convert to short currency symbols
if %currency USD
currency $
if %currency EUR
currency E
if %currency GBP
currency P
# generate postings
# the first posting will be the money leaving/entering my paypal account
# (negative means leaving my account, in all amount fields)
account1 assets:online:paypal
amount1 %netamount
# the second posting will be money sent to/received from other party
# (account2 is set below)
amount2 -%grossamount
# if there's a fee, add a third posting for the money taken by paypal.
if %feeamount [1-9]
account3 expenses:banking:paypal
amount3 -%feeamount
comment3 business:
# choose an account for the second posting
# override the default account names:
# if the amount is positive, it's income (a debit)
if %grossamount ^[^-]
account2 income:unknown
# if negative, it's an expense (a credit)
if %grossamount ^-
account2 expenses:unknown
# apply common rules for setting account2 & other tweaks
include common.rules
# apply some overrides specific to this csv
# Transfers from/to bank. These are usually marked Pending,
# which can be disregarded in this case.
if
Bank Account
Bank Deposit to PP Account
description %type for %referencetxnid %itemtitle
account2 assets:bank:wf:pchecking
account1 assets:online:paypal
# Currency conversions
if Currency Conversion
account2 equity:currency conversion
# common.rules
if
darcs
noble benefactor
account2 revenues:foss donations:darcshub
comment2 business:
if
Calm Radio
account2 expenses:online:apps
if
electronic frontier foundation
Patreon
wikimedia
Advent of Code
account2 expenses:dues
if Google
account2 expenses:online:apps
description google | music
$ hledger -f paypal-custom.csv print
2019-10-01 (60P57143A8206782E) Calm Radio MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@calmradio.com, time:03:46:20, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
assets:online:paypal $-6.99 = $-6.99
expenses:online:apps $6.99
2019-10-01 (0TU1544T080463733) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 60P57143A8206782E ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:46:20, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
assets:online:paypal $6.99 = $0.00
assets:bank:wf:pchecking $-6.99
2019-10-01 (2722394R5F586712G) Patreon Patreon* Membership ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:support@patreon.com, time:08:57:01, type:PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment, status:Completed
assets:online:paypal $-7.00 = $-7.00
expenses:dues $7.00
2019-10-01 (71854087RG994194F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 2722394R5F586712G Patreon* Membership ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:08:57:01, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
assets:online:paypal $7.00 = $0.00
assets:bank:wf:pchecking $-7.00
2019-10-19 (K9U43044RY432050M) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:tle@wikimedia.org, time:03:02:12, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
assets:online:paypal $-2.00 = $-2.00
expenses:dues $2.00
expenses:banking:paypal ; business:
2019-10-19 (3XJ107139A851061F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for K9U43044RY432050M ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:02:12, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
assets:online:paypal $2.00 = $0.00
assets:bank:wf:pchecking $-2.00
2019-10-22 (6L8L1662YP1334033) Noble Benefactor Joyful Systems ; itemid:, fromemail:noble@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:05:07:06, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
assets:online:paypal $9.41 = $9.41
revenues:foss donations:darcshub $-10.00 ; business:
expenses:banking:paypal $0.59 ; business:
File: hledger.info, Node: Timeclock, Next: Timedot, Prev: CSV, Up: Top
10 Timeclock
************
hledger can read time logs in the timeclock time logging format of
timeclock.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 description, separated from the account name by 2+ spaces,
is optional. A transaction comment, beginning with ';', is also
optional. (Indented following 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 number 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 executable renamed.
File: hledger.info, Node: Timedot, Next: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS, Prev: Timeclock, Up: Top
11 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 assumed, 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 followed 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 format).
* *A timedot amount*, which can be
* empty (representing zero)
* a number, optionally followed by a unit 's', 'm', 'h', 'd',
'w', 'mo', or 'y', representing 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 dimension of categorisation,
viewable in reports with '--pivot t'.
* *An optional comment* following a semicolon (a hledger-style
posting comment).
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.timedot').
* Menu:
* Timedot examples::
File: hledger.info, Node: Timedot examples, Up: Timedot
11.1 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
File: hledger.info, Node: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS, Next: Time periods, Prev: Timedot, Up: Top
12 PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS
*****************************
File: hledger.info, Node: Time periods, Next: Depth, Prev: PART 3 REPORTING CONCEPTS, Up: Top
13 Time periods
***************
* Menu:
* Report start & end date::
* Smart dates::
* Report intervals::
* Date adjustments::
* Period headings::
* Period expressions::
File: hledger.info, Node: Report start & end date, Next: Smart dates, Up: Time periods
13.1 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, posting, 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 period 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)
File: hledger.info, Node: Smart dates, Next: Report intervals, Prev: Report start & end date, Up: Time periods
13.2 Smart dates
================
In hledger's user interfaces (though not in the journal file), you can
optionally use "smart date" syntax. Smart dates can be written with
english words, can be relative, and can have parts omitted. Missing
parts are inferred as 1, when needed. Smart dates can be interpreted as
dates or periods 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
after today
'last/this/next february'
the previous occurrence of 1st of the named month, or the next
occurrence 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'.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Report intervals, Next: Date adjustments, Prev: Smart dates, Up: Time periods
13.3 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Date adjustments, Next: Period headings, Prev: Report intervals, Up: Time periods
13.4 Date adjustments
=====================
* Menu:
* Start date adjustment::
* End date adjustment::
File: hledger.info, Node: Start date adjustment, Next: End date adjustment, Up: Date adjustments
13.4.1 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
periodic 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: End date adjustment, Prev: Start date adjustment, Up: Date adjustments
13.4.2 End date adjustment
--------------------------
A report's end date is always adjusted to include a whole number of
intervals, 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Period headings, Next: Period expressions, Prev: Date adjustments, Up: Time periods
13.5 Period headings
====================
With non-standard subperiods, hledger will show "STARTDATE..ENDDATE"
headings. With standard subperiods (ie, starting on a natural interval
boundary), 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 reports, 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''.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions, Prev: Period headings, Up: Time periods
13.6 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 following 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 synonym
'-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 the first day of 2009; equivalent to “2009/1/1 to
"2009/1/1"' 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
* Menu:
* Period expressions with a report interval::
* More complex report intervals::
* Multiple weekday intervals::
File: hledger.info, Node: Period expressions with a report interval, Next: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions
13.6.1 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"'
File: hledger.info, Node: More complex report intervals, Next: Multiple weekday intervals, Prev: Period expressions with a report interval, Up: Period expressions
13.6.2 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 number)
* 'every WEEKDAYNAME' (full or three-letter english weekday name,
case insensitive)
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 periods will go from Tue to Tue
week"'
'-p "every Tue"' same
'-p "every 15th day"' period boundaries will be on 15th of each
month
'-p "every 2nd Monday"' period boundaries will be on second Monday
of each month
'-p "every 11/05"' yearly periods with boundaries on 5th of
November
'-p "every 5th November"' same
'-p "every Nov 5th"' same
Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is
an end date, exclusive as always):
$ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day"
Group postings from the start of wednesday to end of the following
tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date):
$ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week"
File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple weekday intervals, Prev: More complex report intervals, Up: Period expressions
13.6.3 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 unusual. (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 dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods will
weekday"' be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun
'-p "every dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri
weekendday"'
File: hledger.info, Node: Depth, Next: Queries, Prev: Time periods, Up: Top
14 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''
* Menu:
* Combining depth options::
File: hledger.info, Node: Combining depth options, Up: Depth
14.1 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 account 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Queries, Next: Pivoting, Prev: Depth, Up: Top
15 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 commands yet (that's coming in PART 4: COMMANDS below) but
here's the gist of it:
* Transaction-oriented commands ('print', 'aregister', 'close',
'import', 'descriptions'..) try to match transactions (including
the transaction's postings).
* Posting-oriented commands ('register', 'balance', 'balancesheet',
'incomestatement', 'accounts'..) try to match postings. Postings
inherit their transaction'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.)
* Menu:
* Query types::
* Negative queries::
* Space-separated queries::
* Boolean queries::
* Queries and command options::
* Queries and account aliases::
* Queries and valuation::
File: hledger.info, Node: Query types, Next: Negative queries, Up: Queries
15.1 Query types
================
Here are the query types available:
* Menu:
* acct query::
* amt query::
* code query::
* cur query::
* desc query::
* date query::
* date2 query::
* depth query::
* note query::
* payee query::
* real query::
* status query::
* type query::
* tag query::
File: hledger.info, Node: acct query, Next: amt query, Up: Query types
15.1.1 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: amt query, Next: code query, Prev: acct query, Up: Query types
15.1.2 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: code query, Next: cur query, Prev: amt query, Up: Query types
15.1.3 code: query
------------------
*'code:REGEX'*
Match by transaction code (eg check number).
File: hledger.info, Node: cur query, Next: desc query, Prev: code query, Up: Query types
15.1.4 cur: query
-----------------
*'cur:REGEX'*
Match postings or transactions including any amounts whose
currency/commodity 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:'\$''
File: hledger.info, Node: desc query, Next: date query, Prev: cur query, Up: Query types
15.1.5 desc: query
------------------
*'desc:REGEX'*
Match transaction descriptions.
File: hledger.info, Node: date query, Next: date2 query, Prev: desc query, Up: Query types
15.1.6 date: query
------------------
*'date:PERIODEXPR'*
Match dates (or with the '--date2' flag, secondary dates) within the
specified 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 interval may be ignored.
File: hledger.info, Node: date2 query, Next: depth query, Prev: date query, Up: Query types
15.1.7 date2: query
-------------------
*'date2:PERIODEXPR'*
If you use secondary dates: this matches secondary dates within the
specified period. It is not affected by the '--date2' flag. A report
interval in PERIODEXPR will be ignored.
File: hledger.info, Node: depth query, Next: note query, Prev: date2 query, Up: Query types
15.1.8 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: note query, Next: payee query, Prev: depth query, Up: Query types
15.1.9 note: query
------------------
*'note:REGEX'*
Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of '|', or
the whole description if there's no '|').
File: hledger.info, Node: payee query, Next: real query, Prev: note query, Up: Query types
15.1.10 payee: query
--------------------
*'payee:REGEX'*
Match transaction payee/payer names (the part of the description left of
'|', or the whole description if there's no '|').
File: hledger.info, Node: real query, Next: status query, Prev: payee query, Up: Query types
15.1.11 real: query
-------------------
*'real:, real:0'*
Match real or virtual postings respectively.
File: hledger.info, Node: status query, Next: type query, Prev: real query, Up: Query types
15.1.12 status: query
---------------------
*'status:, status:!, status:*'*
Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.
File: hledger.info, Node: type query, Next: tag query, Prev: status query, Up: Query types
15.1.13 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 insensitive. Note 'type:A', 'type:E', and 'type:R'
will also match their respective subtypes 'C' (Cash), 'V' (Conversion),
and 'G' (Gain). Certain kinds of account alias can disrupt account
types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and account types.
File: hledger.info, Node: tag query, Prev: type query, Up: Query types
15.1.14 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Negative queries, Next: Space-separated queries, Prev: Query types, Up: Queries
15.2 Negative queries
=====================
* Menu:
* not query::
File: hledger.info, Node: not query, Up: Negative queries
15.2.1 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
conveniently.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Space-separated queries, Next: Boolean queries, Prev: Negative queries, Up: Queries
15.3 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Boolean queries, Next: Queries and command options, Prev: Space-separated queries, Up: Queries
15.4 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
transactions 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 accounts:
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'.
* Menu:
* expr query::
* any query::
* all query::
File: hledger.info, Node: expr query, Next: any query, Up: Boolean queries
15.4.1 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',
posting-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)".
File: hledger.info, Node: any query, Next: all query, Prev: expr query, Up: Boolean queries
15.4.2 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 QUERYEXPR.
So, 'hledger print any:'cash and amt:>0'' means "show transactions where
at least one posting posts a positive amount to a cash account".
File: hledger.info, Node: all query, Prev: any query, Up: Boolean queries
15.4.3 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 QUERYEXPR (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".
File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and command options, Next: Queries and account aliases, Prev: Boolean queries, Up: Queries
15.5 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and account aliases, Next: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and command options, Up: Queries
15.6 Queries and account aliases
================================
When account names are rewritten with '--alias' or 'alias', 'acct:' will
match either the old or the new account name.
File: hledger.info, Node: Queries and valuation, Prev: Queries and account aliases, Up: Queries
15.7 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Pivoting, Next: Generating data, Prev: Queries, Up: Top
16 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
substituted): '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 account 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 output, 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Generating data, Next: Forecasting, Prev: Pivoting, Up: Top
17 Generating data
******************
hledger can enrich the data provided to it, or generate new data, in a
number of ways. Mostly, this is done only if you request it:
* Missing amounts or missing costs in transactions are inferred
automatically when possible.
* The '--infer-equity' flag infers missing conversion equity postings
from @/@@ costs.
* The '--infer-costs' flag infers missing costs from conversion
equity postings.
* The '--infer-market-prices' flag infers 'P' price directives from
costs.
* The '--auto' flag adds extra postings to transactions matched by
auto posting 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 'generated-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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Forecasting, Next: Budgeting, Prev: Generating data, Up: Top
18 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.
* Menu:
* --forecast::
* Inspecting forecast transactions::
* Forecast reports::
* Forecast tags::
* Forecast period in detail::
* Forecast troubleshooting::
File: hledger.info, Node: --forecast, Next: Inspecting forecast transactions, Up: Forecasting
18.1 -forecast
==============
There is another way: with the '--forecast' option, hledger can generate
temporary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according to
periodic transaction rules defined in the journal. Each rule can
generate multiple recurring transactions, so by changing one rule you
can change many forecasted transactions.
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 period. You can override it - eg to forecast farther into the
future, or to force forecast transactions to overlap your ordinary
transactions - by giving the -forecast option a period expression
argument, like '--forecast=..2099' or '--forecast=2023-02-15..'. Note
that the '=' is required.
File: hledger.info, Node: Inspecting forecast transactions, Next: Forecast reports, Prev: --forecast, Up: Forecasting
18.2 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 begin on the first occurrence after today's date. (You
won't normally use '--today'; it's just to make these examples
reproducible.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Forecast reports, Next: Forecast tags, Prev: Inspecting forecast transactions, Up: Forecasting
18.3 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Forecast tags, Next: Forecast period in detail, Prev: Forecast reports, Up: Forecasting
18.4 Forecast tags
==================
Forecast transactions generated by -forecast have a hidden tag,
'_generated-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 responsible.
File: hledger.info, Node: Forecast period in detail, Next: Forecast troubleshooting, Prev: Forecast tags, Up: Forecasting
18.5 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Forecast troubleshooting, Prev: Forecast period in detail, Up: Forecasting
18.6 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
description 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
transactions.
* Try setting explicit forecast start and/or end dates with
'--forecast=START..END'
* Consult Forecast period, in detail, above.
* Check inside the engine: add '--debug=2' (eg).
File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting, Next: Amount formatting, Prev: Forecasting, Up: Top
19 Budgeting
************
With the balance command's '--budget' report, each periodic transaction
rule generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and goals
and actual 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Amount formatting, Next: Cost reporting, Prev: Budgeting, Up: Top
20 Amount formatting
********************
* Menu:
* Commodity display style::
* Rounding::
* Trailing decimal marks::
* Amount parseability::
File: hledger.info, Node: Commodity display style, Next: Rounding, Up: Amount formatting
20.1 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
decimal digits) to use in most reports. This is inferred as follows:
First, if there's a 'D' directive declaring a default commodity, that
commodity 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' directive. 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 example:
# 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 infers 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Rounding, Next: Trailing decimal marks, Prev: Commodity display style, Up: Amount formatting
20.2 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 reports. 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".
File: hledger.info, Node: Trailing decimal marks, Next: Amount parseability, Prev: Rounding, Up: Amount formatting
20.3 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
commodity):
$ 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Amount parseability, Prev: Trailing decimal marks, Up: Amount formatting
20.4 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 humans)*
* This is produced by reports that show full journal entries:
'print', 'import', '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
consistent 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Cost reporting, Next: Value reporting, Prev: Amount formatting, Up: Top
21 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
transactions there is a conversion rate, also called the cost (when
buying) or selling price (when selling). (In hledger docs we just say
"cost" generically for convenience.) With the '-B/--cost' flag, hledger
can show amounts "at cost", converted to the cost's commodity.
* Menu:
* Recording costs::
* Reporting at cost::
* Equity conversion postings::
* Inferring equity conversion postings::
* Combining costs and equity conversion postings::
* Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings::
* Infer cost and equity by default ?::
File: hledger.info, Node: Recording costs, Next: Reporting at cost, Up: Cost reporting
21.1 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 €100 @ $1.35 ; $1.35 per euro (unit cost)
*Variant 2*
2022-01-01
assets:dollars $-135
assets:euros €100 @@ $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 €100
Here, hledger will attach a '@@ €100' cost to the first amount (you
can see it with 'hledger print -x'). This form looks convenient, but
there are downsides:
* It sacrifices some error checking. For example, if you
accidentally wrote €10 instead of €100, hledger would not be able
to detect the mistake.
* It is sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a
different 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting at cost, Next: Equity conversion postings, Prev: Recording costs, Up: Cost reporting
21.2 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
(described below).
File: hledger.info, Node: Equity conversion postings, Next: Inferring equity conversion postings, Prev: Reporting at cost, Up: Cost reporting
21.3 Equity conversion postings
===============================
There is a problem with the entries above - they are not conventional
Double Entry Bookkeeping (DEB) notation, and because of the "magical"
transformation of one commodity into another, they cause an imbalance in
the Accounting Equation. This shows up as a non-zero grand total in
balance reports 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 €100
equity:conversion $135
equity:conversion €-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 @@ €100
assets:euros €100
equity:conversion $135
equity:conversion €-100
$ hledger bal --infer-costs -B
€-100 assets:dollars
€100 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:conversion 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Inferring equity conversion postings, Next: Combining costs and equity conversion postings, Prev: Equity conversion postings, Up: Cost reporting
21.4 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 €100 @ $1.35
$ hledger print --infer-equity
2022-01-01
assets:dollars $-135
assets:euros €100 @ $1.35
equity:conversion:$-€:€ €-100
equity:conversion:$-€:$ $135.00
The equity account names will be "equity:conversion:A-B:A" and
"equity:conversion: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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Combining costs and equity conversion postings, Next: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings, Prev: Inferring equity conversion postings, Up: Cost reporting
21.5 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 €-100
assets:euros €100 @ $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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings, Next: Infer cost and equity by default ?, Prev: Combining costs and equity conversion postings, Up: Cost reporting
21.6 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
significant: 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 posting's amount. Equity conversion accounts are:
* any accounts declared with account type 'V'/'Conversion', or
their subaccounts
* otherwise, accounts named 'equity:conversion', 'equity:trade',
or 'equity:trading', or their subaccounts.
And multiple such four-posting groups can coexist within a single
transaction. When '--infer-costs' fails, it does not infer a cost in
that transaction, and does not raise an error (ie, it infers costs where
it can).
Reading variant 5 journal entries, combining cost notation and equity
postings, has all the same requirements. When reading such an entry
fails, hledger raises an "unbalanced transaction" error.
File: hledger.info, Node: Infer cost and equity by default ?, Prev: Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings, Up: Cost reporting
21.7 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Value reporting, Next: PART 4 COMMANDS, Prev: Cost reporting, Up: Top
22 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 '--infer-market-prices' flag.
* Menu:
* -X Value in specified commodity::
* -V Value in default commoditys::
* Valuation date::
* Finding market price::
* --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions::
* Valuation commodity::
* --value Flexible valuation::
* Valuation examples::
* Interaction of valuation and queries::
* Effect of valuation on reports::
File: hledger.info, Node: -X Value in specified commodity, Next: -V Value in default commoditys, Up: Value reporting
22.1 -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
special shell characters, if needed. Some examples:
* '-X€'
* '-X$' (nothing after $, no quoting needed)
* '-X CNY' (the space after -X is optional)
* '-X 'red apples''
* '-X 'r&r''
File: hledger.info, Node: -V Value in default commoditys, Next: Valuation date, Prev: -X Value in specified commodity, Up: Value reporting
22.2 -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. Usually 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation date, Next: Finding market price, Prev: -V Value in default commoditys, Up: Value reporting
22.3 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Finding market price, Next: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Prev: Valuation date, Up: Value reporting
22.4 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
possibilities, it will give up (with a "gave up" message visible in
'--debug=2' output). That limit is currently 1000.
Amounts for which no suitable market price can be found, are not
converted.
File: hledger.info, Node: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Next: Valuation commodity, Prev: Finding market price, Up: Value reporting
22.5 -infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions
==========================================================
Normally, market value in hledger is fully controlled by, and requires,
P directives in your journal. Since adding and updating those can be a
chore, and since transactions usually take place at close to market
value, why not use the recorded 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
confusing/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-market-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
File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation commodity, Next: --value Flexible valuation, Prev: --infer-market-prices market prices from transactions, Up: Value reporting
22.6 Valuation commodity
========================
*When you specify a valuation commodity ('-X COMM' or '--value
TYPE,COMM'):*
hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a
suitable market price (including by reversing or chaining prices).
*When you leave the valuation commodity unspecified ('-V' or '--value
TYPE'):*
For each commodity A, hledger picks a default valuation commodity as
follows, in this order of preference:
1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A
on or before valuation date.
2. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A
on any date. (Allows conversion to proceed when there are inferred
prices before the valuation date.)
3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and the
'--infer-market-prices' flag is used: the price commodity from the
latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation
date.
This means:
* If you have P directives, they determine which commodities '-V'
will convert, and to what.
* If you have no P directives, and use the '--infer-market-prices'
flag, costs determine it.
Amounts for which no valuation commodity can be found are not
converted.
File: hledger.info, Node: --value Flexible valuation, Next: Valuation examples, Prev: Valuation commodity, Up: Value reporting
22.7 -value: Flexible valuation
===============================
'-V' and '-X' are special cases of the more general '--value' option:
--value=TYPE[,COMM] TYPE is then, end, now or YYYY-MM-DD.
COMM is an optional commodity symbol.
Shows amounts converted to:
- default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at posting dates
- default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at period end(s)
- default valuation commodity (or COMM) using current market prices
- default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at some date
The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date:
'--value=then'
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity,
using market prices on each posting's date.
'--value=end'
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity,
using market prices on the last day of the report period (or if
unspecified, the journal's end date); or in multiperiod reports,
market prices on the last day of each subperiod.
'--value=now'
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity
using current market prices (as of when report is generated).
'--value=YYYY-MM-DD'
Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation commodity
using market prices on this date.
To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ',COMM'
part: a comma, then the target commodity's symbol. Eg:
*'--value=now,EUR'*. hledger will do its best to convert amounts to
this commodity, deducing market prices as described above.
File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation examples, Next: Interaction of valuation and queries, Prev: --value Flexible valuation, Up: Value reporting
22.8 Valuation examples
=======================
Here are some quick examples of '-V':
; one euro is worth this many dollars from nov 1
P 2016/11/01 € $1.10
; purchase some euros on nov 3
2016/11/3
assets:euros €100
assets:checking
; the euro is worth fewer dollars by dec 21
P 2016/12/21 € $1.03
How many euros do I have ?
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros
€100 assets:euros
What are they worth at end of nov 3 ?
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V -e 2016/11/4
$110.00 assets:euros
What are they worth after 2016/12/21 ? (no report end date
specified, defaults to today)
$ hledger -f t.j bal -N euros -V
$103.00 assets:euros
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
File: hledger.info, Node: Interaction of valuation and queries, Next: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: Valuation examples, Up: Value reporting
22.9 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Effect of valuation on reports, Prev: Interaction of valuation and queries, Up: Value reporting
22.10 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.
Related: #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
unchanged amount if no conversion rate can be found.
_report start_
the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or
date:, otherwise today.
_report or journal start_
the first day of the report period specified with -b or -p or
date:, otherwise the earliest transaction date in the journal,
otherwise today.
_report end_
the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
otherwise today.
_report or journal end_
the last day of the report period specified with -e or -p or date:,
otherwise the latest transaction date in the journal, otherwise
today.
_report interval_
a flag (-D/-W/-M/-Q/-Y) or period expression that activates the
report's multi-period mode (whether showing one or many
subperiods).
Report '-B', '-V', '-X' '--value=then' '--value=end''--value=DATE',
type '--cost' '--value=now'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*print*
posting cost value at value at posting value at value
amounts report end date report or at
or today journal DATE/today
end
balance unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged unchanged
assertions/assignments
*register*
starting cost value at valued at day value at value
balance report or each historical report or at
(-H) journal posting was made journal DATE/today
end end
starting cost value at valued at day value at value
balance day before each historical day before at
(-H) report or posting was made report or DATE/today
with journal journal
report start start
interval
posting cost value at value at posting value at value
amounts report or date report or at
journal journal DATE/today
end end
summary summarised value at sum of postings value at value
posting cost period in interval, period at
amounts ends valued at ends DATE/today
with interval start
report
interval
running sum/average sum/average sum/average of sum/average sum/average
total/averageof of displayed values of of
displayed displayed displayed displayed
values values values values
*balance
(bs,
bse, cf,
is)*
balance sums of value at value at posting value at value
changes costs report end date report or at
or today journal DATE/today
of sums of end of of
postings sums of sums
postings of
postings
budget like like like balance like like
amounts balance balance changes balances balance
(-budget) changes changes changes
grand sum of sum of sum of displayed sum of sum of
total displayed displayed valued displayed displayed
values values values values
*balance
(bs,
bse, cf,
is) with
report
interval*
starting sums of value at sums of values value at sums
balances costs of report of postings report of
(-H) postings start of before report start of postings
before sums of start at sums of before
report all respective all report
start postings posting dates postings start
before before
report report
start start
balance sums of same as sums of values balance value
changes costs of -value=end of postings in change in at
(bal, postings period at each DATE/today
is, bs in period respective period, of
-change, posting dates valued at sums
cf period of
-change) ends postings
end sums of same as sums of values period end value
balances costs of -value=end of postings from balances, at
(bal -H, postings before period valued at DATE/today
is -H, from start to period period of
bs, cf) before end at ends sums
report respective of
start to posting dates postings
period end
budget like like like balance like like
amounts balance balance changes/end balances balance
(-budget) changes/end changes/end balances changes/end
balances balances balances
row sums, sums, sums, averages sums, sums,
totals, averages averages of displayed averages averages
row of of values of of
averages displayed displayed displayed displayed
(-T, -A) values values values values
column sums of sums of sums of sums of sums
totals displayed displayed displayed values displayed of
values values values displayed
values
grand sum, sum, sum, average of sum, sum,
total, average of average of column totals average of average
grand column column column of
average totals totals totals column
totals
'--cumulative' is omitted to save space, it works like '-H' but with
a zero starting balance.
File: hledger.info, Node: PART 4 COMMANDS, Next: Help commands, Prev: Value reporting, Up: Top
23 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 command'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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Help commands, Next: User interface commands, Prev: PART 4 COMMANDS, Up: Top
24 Help commands
****************
* Menu:
* commands::
* demo::
* help::
File: hledger.info, Node: commands, Next: demo, Up: Help commands
24.1 commands
=============
Show the hledger commands list.
Flags:
--builtin show only builtin commands, not addons
File: hledger.info, Node: demo, Next: help, Prev: commands, Up: Help commands
24.2 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 default 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: help, Prev: demo, Up: Help commands
24.3 help
=========
Show the hledger user manual with 'info', 'man', or a pager. With a
(case insensitive) 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 installed 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 install 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
File: hledger.info, Node: User interface commands, Next: Data entry commands, Prev: Help commands, Up: Top
25 User interface commands
**************************
* Menu:
* repl::
* run::
* ui::
* web::
File: hledger.info, Node: repl, Next: run, Up: User interface commands
25.1 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 commands interactively. As with the 'run' command, each input
file (or each input 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 temporarily 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).
* Menu:
* Examples::
File: hledger.info, Node: Examples, Up: repl
25.1.1 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
...
File: hledger.info, Node: run, Next: ui, Prev: repl, Up: User interface commands
25.2 run
========
Run a sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line
arguments. 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' options, 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 input, 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.
* Menu:
* Examples: Examples 2.
File: hledger.info, Node: Examples 2, Up: run
25.2.1 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 finally 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
...
File: hledger.info, Node: ui, Next: web, Prev: run, Up: User interface commands
25.3 ui
=======
Runs hledger-ui (if installed).
File: hledger.info, Node: web, Prev: ui, Up: User interface commands
25.4 web
========
Runs hledger-web (if installed).
File: hledger.info, Node: Data entry commands, Next: Basic report commands, Prev: User interface commands, Up: Top
26 Data entry commands
**********************
* Menu:
* add::
* add and balance assertions::
* add and balance assignments::
* import::
File: hledger.info, Node: add, Next: add and balance assertions, Up: Data entry commands
26.1 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 generate them from CSV. For more interactive data entry, there is the
'add' command, which prompts interactively on the console for new
transactions, and appends them to the main journal file (which should be
in journal format). Existing transactions are not changed. This is one
of the few hledger commands that writes to the journal file (see also
'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 control-d or control-c to exit.
Features:
* add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by
description) recent transaction (filtered by the query, if any) as
a template.
* You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.
* Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry.
* The tab key will auto-complete whenever possible - accounts,
payees/descriptions, 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
supports 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
completions:
hledger add --file 2024.journal --file 2023.journal
* Provide answers for the first four prompts:
hledger add today 'best buy' expenses:supplies '$20'
There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html.
File: hledger.info, Node: add and balance assertions, Next: add and balance assignments, Prev: add, Up: Data entry commands
26.2 add and balance assertions
===============================
Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing 'AMOUNT =
BALANCE' when asked for an amount. Eg '100 = 500'.
Also, each time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance
assertions in the journal and rejects the new amount if it would make
any of them fail. You can run 'add' with '-I'/'--ignore-assertions' to
disable balance assertion checking.
File: hledger.info, Node: add and balance assignments, Next: import, Prev: add and balance assertions, Up: Data entry commands
26.3 add and balance assignments
================================
Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing '=
BALANCE' (or '==', '=*' etc) when asked for an amount. The missing
amount will be calculated automatically.
'add' normally won't let you add a new posting which is dated earlier
than an existing balance assignment. (Because when 'add' runs, existing
balance assignments have already been calculated and converted to
amounts and balance assertions.) You can allow it by disabling balance
assertion checking with '-I'.
File: hledger.info, Node: import, Prev: add and balance assignments, Up: Data entry commands
26.4 import
===========
Import new transactions from one or more data files to the main journal.
Flags:
--catchup just mark all transactions as already imported
--dry-run just show the transactions to be imported
This command detects new transactions in one or more data files
specified as arguments, and appends them to the main journal.
You can import from any input file format hledger supports, but
CSV/SSV/TSV files, downloaded from financial institutions, are the most
common import source.
The import destination is the default journal file, or another
specified in the usual way with '$LEDGER_FILE' or '-f/--file'. It
should be in journal format.
Examples:
$ hledger import bank1-checking.csv bank1-savings.csv
$ hledger import *.csv
* Menu:
* Import dry run::
* Overlap detection::
* First import::
* Importing balance assignments::
* Import and commodity styles::
* Import archiving::
* Import special cases::
File: hledger.info, Node: Import dry run, Next: Overlap detection, Up: import
26.4.1 Import dry run
---------------------
It's useful to preview the import by running first with '--dry-run', to
sanity 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
conversion 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Overlap detection, Next: First import, Prev: Import dry run, Up: import
26.4.2 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
reliably 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: First import, Next: Importing balance assignments, Prev: Overlap detection, Up: import
26.4.3 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
journal, you can create the .latest file yourself. Eg, let's say you
previously 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Importing balance assignments, Next: Import and commodity styles, Prev: First import, Up: import
26.4.4 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 account 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 anyway.)
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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Import and commodity styles, Next: Import archiving, Prev: Importing balance assignments, Up: import
26.4.5 Import and commodity styles
----------------------------------
Amounts in entries added by import will be formatted according to the
journal's canonical commodity styles, as declared by 'commodity'
directives or inferred from the journal's amounts.
Related: CSV > Amount decimal places.
File: hledger.info, Node: Import archiving, Next: Import special cases, Prev: Import and commodity styles, Up: import
26.4.6 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 renamed similar to the rules file, with a date. This
can be useful for troubleshooting, detecting variations in your banks'
CSV data, regenerating entries with improved rules, etc.
The 'archive' rule also causes 'import' to handle 'source' glob
patterns differently: when there are multiple matched files, it will
pick the oldest, not the newest.
File: hledger.info, Node: Import special cases, Prev: Import archiving, Up: import
26.4.7 Import special cases
---------------------------
* Menu:
* Deduplication::
* Varying file name::
* Multiple versions::
File: hledger.info, Node: Deduplication, Next: Varying file name, Up: Import special cases
26.4.7.1 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Varying file name, Next: Multiple versions, Prev: Deduplication, Up: Import special cases
26.4.7.2 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Multiple versions, Prev: Varying file name, Up: Import special cases
26.4.7.3 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 import and archive first 'bank.csv', then 'bank
(2).csv'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Basic report commands, Next: Standard report commands, Prev: Data entry commands, Up: Top
27 Basic report commands
************************
* Menu:
* accounts::
* codes::
* commodities::
* descriptions::
* files::
* notes::
* payees::
* prices::
* stats::
* tags::
File: hledger.info, Node: accounts, Next: codes, Up: Basic report commands
27.1 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 declared 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 updating 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 Declaring 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
File: hledger.info, Node: codes, Next: commodities, Prev: accounts, Up: Basic report commands
27.2 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 order transactions were parsed. The transaction code is an optional
value written in parentheses between the date and description, often
used to store a cheque number, order number or similar.
Transactions aren't required to have a code, and missing or empty
codes will not be shown by default. With the '-E'/'--empty' flag, they
will be printed as blank lines.
You can add a query to select a subset of transactions.
Examples:
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
File: hledger.info, Node: commodities, Next: descriptions, Prev: codes, Up: Basic report commands
27.3 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 declared with 'commodity' 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).
You can add 'cur:' query arguments to further limit the commodities.
File: hledger.info, Node: descriptions, Next: files, Prev: commodities, Up: Basic report commands
27.4 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
File: hledger.info, Node: files, Next: notes, Prev: descriptions, Up: Basic report commands
27.5 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
File: hledger.info, Node: notes, Next: payees, Prev: files, Up: Basic report commands
27.6 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
alphabetic order. You can add a query to select a subset of
transactions. The note is the part of the transaction description after
a | character (or if there is no |, the whole description).
Example:
$ hledger notes
Petrol
Snacks
File: hledger.info, Node: payees, Next: prices, Prev: notes, Up: Basic report commands
27.7 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
File: hledger.info, Node: prices, Next: stats, Prev: payees, Up: Basic report commands
27.8 prices
===========
Print the market prices declared with P directives. With
-infer-market-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-reverse, it will show the same prices used internally to calculate
value reports. But if in doubt, you can inspect those directly by
running the value report with -debug=2.
File: hledger.info, Node: stats, Next: tags, Prev: prices, Up: Basic report commands
27.9 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-separated format: the program version, the main journal file name,
and the performance 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-format).
File: hledger.info, Node: tags, Prev: stats, Up: Basic report commands
27.10 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 acquire tags from their postings.
File: hledger.info, Node: Standard report commands, Next: Advanced report commands, Prev: Basic report commands, Up: Top
28 Standard report commands
***************************
* Menu:
* print::
* aregister::
* register::
* balancesheet::
* balancesheetequity::
* cashflow::
* incomestatement::
File: hledger.info, Node: print, Next: aregister, Up: Standard report commands
28.1 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 reformat/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
* Menu:
* print amount explicitness::
* print alignment::
* print amount style::
* print parseability::
* print other features::
* print output format::
File: hledger.info, Node: print amount explicitness, Next: print alignment, Up: print
28.1.1 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 journal 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: print alignment, Next: print amount style, Prev: print amount explicitness, Up: print
28.1.2 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: print amount style, Next: print parseability, Prev: print alignment, Up: print
28.1.3 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 decimal 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' standard 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 requiring manual fixup.
File: hledger.info, Node: print parseability, Next: print other features, Prev: print amount style, Up: print
28.1.4 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 convenient 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
unparseable:
* '--round' (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing.
* Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance
assertions, or balance assignments.
* Value reporting also can disrupt balance assertions or balance
assignments.
* 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: print other features, Next: print output format, Prev: print parseability, Up: print
28.1.5 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 description is most similar to DESC. DESC should contain at least
two characters. If there is no similar-enough match, no transaction
will be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero.
With '--locations', print adds the source file and line number to
every transaction, as a tag.
File: hledger.info, Node: print output format, Prev: print other features, Up: print
28.1.6 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 follows:
* Transaction and postings with unmarked status are converted to
cleared ('*') status.
* Transactions' payee and note are backslash-escaped and
double-quote-escaped 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 currency symbols like '$' are converted to the corresponding
currency names.
* Account name parts are capitalised and unsupported characters are
replaced with '-'. If an account name part does not begin with a
letter, or if the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity,
Income, or Expenses, 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 reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in a
different order, etc.)
* The amount is separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount"
(numeric quantity) fields.
* The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit"
column, for convenience. (Those names are not accurate in the
accounting sense; it just puts negative amounts under credit and
zero or greater amounts under debit.)
File: hledger.info, Node: aregister, Next: register, Prev: print, Up: Standard report commands
28.2 aregister
==============
(areg)
Show the transactions and running balances in one account, with each
transaction 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 necessarily 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
specifies 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 historical 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 during july, in the first account whose name contains
"checking":
$ hledger areg checking date:jul
Each 'aregister' line item shows:
* the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if
different, see below)
* the names of all the other account(s) involved in this transaction
(probably abbreviated)
* the total change to this account's balance from this transaction
* the account's historical running balance after this transaction.
Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default;
add the '-E/--empty' flag to show them.
For performance reasons, column widths are chosen based on the first
1000 lines; this means unusually wide values in later lines can cause
visual discontinuities as column widths are adjusted. If you want to
ensure perfect alignment, at the cost of more time and memory, use the
'--align-all' flag.
By default, 'aregister' shows a heading above the data. However,
when reporting 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
options. The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'tsv' (_Added
in 1.32_), 'html', 'fods' (_Added in 1.41_) and 'json'.
* Menu:
* aregister and posting dates::
File: hledger.info, Node: aregister and posting dates, Up: aregister
28.2.1 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 posting) 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: register, Next: balancesheet, Prev: aregister, Up: Standard report commands
28.3 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 perfect 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 postings to the running total. This is useful when you want to
see only recent activity, with a historically accurate running balance:
$ hledger register checking -b 2008/6 --historical
2008/06/01 gift assets:bank:checking $1 $2
2008/06/02 save assets:bank:checking $-1 $1
2008/12/31 pay off assets:bank:checking $-1 0
The '--depth' option limits the amount of sub-account detail
displayed.
The '--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 affected by '--historical'. It works best when showing
just one account and one commodity.
The '--related'/'-r' flag shows the _other_ postings in the
transactions of the postings which would normally be shown.
The '--invert' flag negates all amounts. For example, it can be used
on an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative
numbers. It's also useful to show postings on the checking account
together with the related account:
The '--sort=FIELDS' flag sorts by the fields given, which can be any
of 'account', '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
interval, aggregating the postings to each account:
$ hledger register --monthly income
2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1
2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2
Periods with no activity, and summary postings with a zero amount,
are not shown by default; use the '--empty'/'-E' flag to see them:
$ hledger register --monthly income -E
2008/01 income:salary $-1 $-1
2008/02 0 $-1
2008/03 0 $-1
2008/04 0 $-1
2008/05 0 $-1
2008/06 income:gifts $-1 $-2
2008/07 0 $-2
2008/08 0 $-2
2008/09 0 $-2
2008/10 0 $-2
2008/11 0 $-2
2008/12 0 $-2
Often, you'll want to see just one line per interval. The '--depth'
option helps with this, causing subaccounts to be aggregated:
$ hledger register --monthly assets --depth 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 comparable 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.
* Menu:
* Custom register output::
File: hledger.info, Node: Custom register output, Up: register
28.3.1 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheet, Next: balancesheetequity, Prev: register, Up: Standard report commands
28.4 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 balancesheetequity command.)
Accounts declared with the 'Asset', 'Cash' or 'Liability' type are
shown (see account types). Or if no such accounts are declared, it
shows top-level accounts 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 similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities', but with
smarter account detection, and liabilities displayed with their sign
flipped.
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'tsv' (_Added in
1.32_), 'html', and 'json'.
File: hledger.info, Node: balancesheetequity, Next: cashflow, Prev: balancesheet, Up: Standard report commands
28.5 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 'Equity' type (see account types). Or if no such
accounts are declared, it shows top-level accounts named 'asset',
'liability' or 'equity' (case insensitive, 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 similar to 'hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity', but
with smarter account 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 commodity conversions).
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'tsv', 'html',
and 'json'.
File: hledger.info, Node: cashflow, Next: incomestatement, Prev: balancesheetequity, Up: Standard report commands
28.6 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
expression:
^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 similar to 'hledger balance assets not:fixed not:investment
not:receivable', but with smarter account detection.
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'tsv' (_Added in
1.32_), 'html', and 'json'.
File: hledger.info, Node: incomestatement, Prev: cashflow, Up: Standard report commands
28.7 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 similar to 'hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses', but
with smarter account detection, and revenues/income displayed with their
sign flipped.
This command also supports the output destination and output format
options The output formats supported are 'txt', 'csv', 'tsv' (_Added in
1.32_), 'html', and 'json'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Advanced report commands, Next: Chart commands, Prev: Standard report commands, Up: Top
29 Advanced report commands
***************************
* Menu:
* balance::
* roi::
File: hledger.info, Node: balance, Next: roi, Up: Advanced report commands
29.1 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
balances, 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 representing accounts, and columns representing periods.
Note there are some variants of the 'balance' command with convenient
defaults, which are simpler to use: 'balancesheet',
'balancesheetequity', 'cashflow' and 'incomestatement'. When you need
more control, then use 'balance'.
* Menu:
* balance features::
* Simple balance report::
* Balance report line format::
* Filtered balance report::
* List or tree mode::
* Depth limiting::
* Dropping top-level accounts::
* Showing declared accounts::
* Sorting by amount::
* Percentages::
* Multi-period balance report::
* Balance change end balance::
* Balance report modes::
* Budget report::
* Balance report layout::
* Balance report output::
* Some useful balance reports::
File: hledger.info, Node: balance features, Next: Simple balance report, Up: balance
29.1.1 balance features
-----------------------
Here's a quick overview of the 'balance' command's features, followed by
more detailed descriptions and examples. Many of these work with the
other balance-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-supporting terminal, negative
amounts are shown in red.
File: hledger.info, Node: Simple balance report, Next: Balance report line format, Prev: balance features, Up: balance
29.1.2 Simple balance report
----------------------------
With no arguments, 'balance' shows a list of all accounts and their
change of balance - ie, the sum of posting amounts, both inflows and
outflows - during the entire period of the journal. ("Simple" here
means just one column of numbers, covering a single period. You can
also have multi-period reports, 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report line format, Next: Filtered balance report, Prev: Simple balance report, Up: balance
29.1.3 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/balance pair. It may contain any suitable text, with data
fields interpolated like so:
%[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)
* MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional)
* MAX truncates at this width (optional)
* FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of:
* 'depth_spacer' - a number of spaces equal to the account's
depth, or if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces.
* 'account' - the account's name
* 'total' - the account's balance/posted total, right justified
Also, FMT can begin with an optional prefix to control how
multi-commodity amounts are rendered:
* '%_' - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default)
* '%^' - render on multiple lines, top-aligned
* '%,' - render on one line, comma-separated
There are some quirks. Eg in one-line mode, '%(depth_spacer)' has no
effect, instead '%(account)' has indentation built in. Experimentation
may be needed to get pleasing results.
Some example formats:
* '%(total)' - the account's total
* '%-20.20(account)' - the account's name, left justified, padded to
20 characters and clipped at 20 characters
* '%,%-50(account) %25(total)' - account name padded to 50
characters, total padded to 20 characters, with multiple
commodities rendered on one line
* '%20(total) %2(depth_spacer)%-(account)' - the default format for
the single-column balance report
File: hledger.info, Node: Filtered balance report, Next: List or tree mode, Prev: Balance report line format, Up: balance
29.1.4 Filtered balance report
------------------------------
You can show fewer accounts, a different time period, totals from
cleared transactions only, etc. by using query arguments or options to
limit the postings being matched. Eg:
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806
$-2 assets:cash
--------------------
$-2
File: hledger.info, Node: List or tree mode, Next: Depth limiting, Prev: Filtered balance report, Up: balance
29.1.5 List or tree mode
------------------------
By default, or with '-l/--flat', accounts are shown as a flat list with
their full names visible, as in the examples above.
With '-t/--tree', the account hierarchy is shown, with subaccounts'
"leaf" names indented below their parent:
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance
$-1 assets
$1 bank:saving
$-2 cash
$2 expenses
$1 food
$1 supplies
$-2 income
$-1 gifts
$-1 salary
$1 liabilities:debts
--------------------
0
Notes:
* "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more
compact output, unless '--no-elide' is used. Boring accounts have
no balance of their own and just one subaccount (eg 'assets:bank'
and 'liabilities' above).
* All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including the balances from
all subaccounts. Note this means some repetition in the output,
which requires explanation when sharing reports with
non-plaintextaccounting-users. A tree mode report's final total is
the sum of the top-level balances shown, not of all the balances
shown.
* Each group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is
sorted separately.
File: hledger.info, Node: Depth limiting, Next: Dropping top-level accounts, Prev: List or tree mode, Up: balance
29.1.6 Depth limiting
---------------------
With a 'depth:NUM' query, or '--depth NUM' option, or just '-NUM' (eg:
'-3') balance reports will show accounts only to the specified depth,
hiding the deeper subaccounts. This can be useful for getting an
overview without too much detail.
Account balances at the depth limit always include the balances from
any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode). Eg, limiting to depth 1:
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1
$-1 assets
$2 expenses
$-2 income
$1 liabilities
--------------------
0
File: hledger.info, Node: Dropping top-level accounts, Next: Showing declared accounts, Prev: Depth limiting, Up: balance
29.1.7 Dropping top-level accounts
----------------------------------
You can also hide one or more top-level account name parts, using
'--drop NUM'. This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level
account names:
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1
$1 food
$1 supplies
--------------------
$2
File: hledger.info, Node: Showing declared accounts, Next: Sorting by amount, Prev: Dropping top-level accounts, Up: balance
29.1.8 Showing declared accounts
--------------------------------
With '--declared', accounts which have been declared with an account
directive will be included in the balance report, even if they have no
transactions. (Since they will have a zero balance, you will also need
'-E/--empty' to see them.)
More precisely, _leaf_ declared accounts (with no subaccounts) will
be included, since those are usually the more useful in reports.
The idea of this is to be able to see a useful "complete" balance
report, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared
accounts yet.
File: hledger.info, Node: Sorting by amount, Next: Percentages, Prev: Showing declared accounts, Up: balance
29.1.9 Sorting by amount
------------------------
With '-S/--sort-amount', accounts with the largest (most positive)
balances are shown first. Eg: 'hledger bal expenses -MAS' shows your
biggest averaged monthly expenses first. When more than one commodity
is present, they will be sorted by the alphabetically earliest commodity
first, and then by subsequent commodities (if an amount is missing a
commodity, it is treated as 0).
Revenues and liability balances are typically negative, however, so
'-S' shows these in reverse order. To work around this, you can add
'--invert' to flip the signs. Or you could use one of the higher-level
balance reports ('bs', 'is'..), which flip the sign automatically (eg:
'hledger is -MAS').
File: hledger.info, Node: Percentages, Next: Multi-period balance report, Prev: Sorting by amount, Up: balance
29.1.10 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:€
File: hledger.info, Node: Multi-period balance report, Next: Balance change end balance, Prev: Percentages, Up: balance
29.1.11 Multi-period balance report
-----------------------------------
With a report interval (set by the '-D/--daily', '-W/--weekly',
'-M/--monthly', '-Q/--quarterly', '-Y/--yearly', or '-p/--period' flag),
'balance' shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive
time periods (and a title):
$ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --quarterly income expenses -E
Balance changes in 2008:
|| 2008q1 2008q2 2008q3 2008q4
===================++=================================
expenses:food || 0 $1 0 0
expenses:supplies || 0 $1 0 0
income:gifts || 0 $-1 0 0
income:salary || $-1 0 0 0
-------------------++---------------------------------
|| $-1 $1 0 0
Notes:
* The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to
fully encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and
last subperiods have the same duration as the others).
* Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are
not shown, unless '-E/--empty' is used.
* Accounts (rows) containing all zeroes are not shown, unless
'-E/--empty' is used.
* Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated form, unless
'--no-elide' is used.
* 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'
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance change end balance, Next: Balance report modes, Prev: Multi-period balance report, Up: balance
29.1.12 Balance change, end balance
-----------------------------------
It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in
balance reports. Here is some terminology we use:
A *_balance change_* is the net amount added to, or removed from, an
account during some period.
An *_end balance_* is the amount accumulated in an account as of some
date (and some time, but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day
in your timezone). It is the sum of previous balance changes.
We call it a *_historical end balance_* if it includes all balance
changes since the account was created. For a real world account, this
means it will match the "historical record", eg the balances reported in
your bank statements or bank web UI. (If they are correct!)
In general, balance changes are what you want to see when reviewing
revenues and expenses, and historical end balances are what you want to
see when reviewing or reconciling asset, liability and equity accounts.
'balance' shows balance changes by default. To see accurate
historical end balances:
1. Initialise account starting balances with an "opening balances"
transaction (a transfer from equity to the account), unless the
journal covers the account's full lifetime.
2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by
not specifying a report start date, or by using the
'-H/--historical' flag. ('-H' causes report start date to be
ignored when summing postings.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report modes, Next: Budget report, Prev: Balance change end balance, Up: balance
29.1.13 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] ...
* Menu:
* Calculation mode::
* Accumulation mode::
* Valuation mode::
* Combining balance report modes::
File: hledger.info, Node: Calculation mode, Next: Accumulation mode, Up: Balance report modes
29.1.13.1 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 balance minus each amount's original cost)
* '--count' : show the count of postings
File: hledger.info, Node: Accumulation mode, Next: Valuation mode, Prev: Calculation mode, Up: Balance report modes
29.1.13.2 Accumulation mode
...........................
How amounts should accumulate across a report's subperiods/columns.
Another 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/liabilities/equity. (*default for balancesheet,
balancesheetequity*)
File: hledger.info, Node: Valuation mode, Next: Combining balance report modes, Prev: Accumulation mode, Up: Balance report modes
29.1.13.3 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Combining balance report modes, Prev: Valuation mode, Up: Balance report modes
29.1.13.4 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 restrictions are applied:
* '--valuechange' implies '--value=end'
* '--valuechange' makes '--change' the default when used with the
'balancesheet'/'balancesheetequity' commands
* '--cumulative' or '--historical' disables '--row-total/-T'
For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and
valuation show:
Valuation:>no valuation '--value= then' '--value= end' '--value=
Accumulation:v YYYY-MM-DD
/now'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'--change'change in sum of period-end DATE-value
period posting-date value of of change in
market values change in period
in period period
'--cumulative'change from sum of period-end DATE-value
report start to posting-date value of of change
period end market values change from from report
from report report start start to
start to period to period end period end
end
'--historicalchange from sum of period-end DATE-value
/-H' journal start posting-date value of of change
to period end market values change from from journal
(historical end from journal journal start start to
balance) start to period to period end period end
end
File: hledger.info, Node: Budget report, Next: Balance report layout, Prev: Balance report modes, Up: balance
29.1.14 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 usage, 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 expenses:
;; 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://plaintextaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on this topic.
* Menu:
* Using the budget report::
* Budget date surprises::
* Selecting budget goals::
* Budgeting vs forecasting::
File: hledger.info, Node: Using the budget report, Next: Budget date surprises, Up: Budget report
29.1.14.1 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 surprises. 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 totals, 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 particular 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Budget date surprises, Next: Selecting budget goals, Prev: Using the budget report, Up: Budget report
29.1.14.2 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
following journal and report, the first period appears to have no
'expenses: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 expenses'). Whereas the report period defaults to just
the 15th day of january (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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Selecting budget goals, Next: Budgeting vs forecasting, Prev: Budget date surprises, Up: Budget report
29.1.14.3 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 description contains DESCPAT, a case-insensitive substring (not a
regular expression or query). This means you can give your periodic
rules descriptions (remember that two spaces are needed between period
expression and description), and then select from multiple budgets
defined in your journal.
File: hledger.info, Node: Budgeting vs forecasting, Prev: Selecting budget goals, Up: Budget report
29.1.14.4 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 is a balance command option;
forecasting with all reports it selects the balance
report's budget mode
generates visible transactions which generates invisible
appear in reports transactions which produce
goal amounts
generates forecast transactions from generates budget goal
after the last regular transaction, to transactions throughout the
the end of the report period; or with report period, optionally
an argument '--forecast=PERIODEXPR' restricted by periods
generates them throughout the specified in the periodic
specified period, both optionally transaction rules
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
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report layout, Next: Balance report output, Prev: Budget report, Up: balance
29.1.15 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 readability, 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:
* Menu:
* Wide layout::
* Tall layout::
* Bare layout::
* Tidy layout::
File: hledger.info, Node: Wide layout, Next: Tall layout, Up: Balance report layout
29.1.15.1 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..
File: hledger.info, Node: Tall layout, Next: Bare layout, Prev: Wide layout, Up: Balance report layout
29.1.15.2 Tall layout
.....................
Each commodity gets a new line (may be different in each column), and
account 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Bare layout, Next: Tidy layout, Prev: Tall layout, Up: Balance report layout
29.1.15.3 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
commodity, because of zero amounts (hledger treats zeroes as
commodity-less, usually). This can break 'hledger-bar' confusingly
(workaround: add a 'cur:' query to exclude the no-symbol row).
File: hledger.info, Node: Tidy layout, Prev: Bare layout, Up: Balance report layout
29.1.15.4 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
consume:
$ 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"
File: hledger.info, Node: Balance report output, Next: Some useful balance reports, Prev: Balance report layout, Up: balance
29.1.16 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=""'.)
File: hledger.info, Node: Some useful balance reports, Prev: Balance report output, Up: balance
29.1.17 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
'incomestatement' command.
* 'bal -M -H assets liabilities'
Show historical asset/liability balances at each month end. Also
available as the 'balancesheet' command.
* 'bal -M -H assets liabilities equity'
Show historical asset/liability/equity balances at each month end.
Also available as the 'balancesheetequity' command.
* 'bal -M assets not:receivable'
Show changes to liquid assets in each month. Also available as the
'cashflow' command.
Also:
* 'bal -M expenses -2 -SA'
Show monthly expenses summarised to depth 2 and sorted by average
amount.
* 'bal -M --budget expenses'
Show monthly expenses and budget goals.
* 'bal -M --valuechange investments'
Show monthly change in market value of investment assets.
* 'bal investments --valuechange -D date:lastweek amt:'>1000' -STA
[--invert]'
Show top gainers [or losers] last week
File: hledger.info, Node: roi, Prev: balance, Up: Advanced report commands
29.2 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 identify your profit and loss transactions with '--pnl'.
If you do not record changes in the value of your investment
manually, or do not require computation of time-weighted return (TWR),
'--pnl' could be an empty query ('--pnl ""' or '--pnl STR' where 'STR'
does not match any of your accounts).
This command will compute and display the internalized rate of return
(IRR, also known as money-weighted rate of return) and time-weighted
rate of return (TWR) for your investments for the time period requested.
IRR is always 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/investing/roi-unrealised.ledger
* Cookbook > Return on Investment: https://hledger.org/roi.html
* Menu:
* Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl::
* Semantics of --inv and --pnl::
* IRR and TWR explained::
File: hledger.info, Node: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Next: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi
29.2.1 Spaces and special characters in '--inv' and
---------------------------------------------------
'--pnl' Note that '--inv' and '--pnl''s argument is a query, and queries
could have several space-separated terms (see QUERIES).
To indicate that all search terms form single command-line argument,
you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters):
$ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...'
If any query terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra
level of nested quoting, eg:
$ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'"
File: hledger.info, Node: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Next: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl, Up: roi
29.2.2 Semantics of '--inv' and '--pnl'
---------------------------------------
Query supplied to '--inv' has to match all transactions that are related
to your investment. Transactions not matching '--inv' will be ignored.
In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match '--inv'
to be "investment postings" and other postings (not matching '--inv')
will be sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss",
as ROI needs to know which part of the investment value is your
contributions and which is due to the return on investment.
* "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling
assets, or otherwise converting between your investment commodity
and any other commodity. Example:
2019-01-01 Investing in Snake Oil
assets:cash -$100
investment:snake oil
2020-01-01 Selling my Snake Oil
assets:cash $10
investment:snake oil = 0
* "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment:
2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value
investment:snake oil = $57
equity:unrealized profit or loss
All non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless
they match '--pnl' query. Changes in value of your investment due to
"profit and loss" postings will be considered as part of your investment
return.
Example: if you use '--inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized', then
postings in the example below would be classifed as:
2019-01-01 Snake Oil #1
assets:cash -$100 ; cash flow posting
investment:snake oil ; investment posting
2019-03-01 Snake Oil #2
equity:unrealized pnl -$100 ; profit and loss posting
snake oil ; investment posting
2019-07-01 Snake Oil #3
equity:unrealized pnl ; profit and loss posting
cash -$100 ; cash flow posting
snake oil $50 ; investment posting
File: hledger.info, Node: IRR and TWR explained, Prev: Semantics of --inv and --pnl, Up: roi
29.2.3 IRR and TWR explained
----------------------------
"ROI" stands for "return on investment". Traditionally this was
computed as a difference between current value of investment and its
initial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value.
However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where
investments receives no in-flows or out-flows of money, and where rate
of growth is fixed over time. For more complex scenarios you need
different ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements
two of them: IRR and TWR.
Internal rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate
of return") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows, 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 personally put in or withdraw, and for the "roi" command, these are
the postings that match the query in the'--inv' argument and NOT match
the query in the'--pnl' argument.
If you manually record changes in the value of your investment as
transactions that balance them against "profit and loss" (or "unrealized
gains") account or use price directives, then in order for IRR to
compute the precise effect of your in-flows and out-flows on the rate of
return, you will need to record the value of your investement on or
close to the days when in- or out-flows occur.
In technical terms, IRR uses the same approach as computation of net
present value, and tries to find a discount rate that makes net present
value of all the cash flows of your investment to add up to zero. This
could be hard to wrap your head around, especially if you haven't done
discounted cash flow analysis before. Implementation of IRR in hledger
should produce results that match the '=XIRR' formula in Excel.
Second way to compute rate of return that 'roi' command implements is
called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR". Like IRR, it will
account for the effect of your in-flows and out-flows, but unlike IRR it
will try to compute 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Chart commands, Next: Data generation commands, Prev: Advanced report commands, Up: Top
30 Chart commands
*****************
* Menu:
* activity::
File: hledger.info, Node: activity, Up: Chart commands
30.1 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 **
File: hledger.info, Node: Data generation commands, Next: Maintenance commands, Prev: Chart commands, Up: Top
31 Data generation commands
***************************
* Menu:
* close::
* rewrite::
File: hledger.info, Node: close, Next: rewrite, Up: Data generation commands
31.1 close
==========
(equity)
'close' prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening"
transactions, useful in various situations: migrating balances to a new
journal file, retaining 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 argument to the mode flag. Eg '--close=foo' or
'--clopen=2025-main'.
* Menu:
* close --clopen::
* close --close::
* close --open::
* close --assert::
* close --assign::
* close --retain::
* close customisation::
* close and balance assertions::
* close examples::
File: hledger.info, Node: close --clopen, Next: close --close, Up: close
31.1.1 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 account 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 cancel each other out.
The balances will be transferred to and from 'equity:opening/closing
balances' 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 usually 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: close --close, Next: close --open, Prev: close --clopen, Up: close
31.1.2 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: close --open, Next: close --assert, Prev: close --close, Up: close
31.1.3 close -open
------------------
This prints just the opening balances transaction of '--clopen'. (It is
similar to Ledger's equity command.)
File: hledger.info, Node: close --assert, Next: close --assign, Prev: close --open, Up: close
31.1.4 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: close --assign, Next: close --retain, Prev: close --assert, Up: close
31.1.5 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,
assignments 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: close --retain, Next: close customisation, Prev: close --assign, Up: close
31.1.6 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
categorised 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 satisfied.)
File: hledger.info, Node: close customisation, Next: close and balance assertions, Prev: close --retain, Up: close
31.1.7 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
closing date. You can change these by specifying a report end date; the
closing 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 destination 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.)
File: hledger.info, Node: close and balance assertions, Next: close examples, Prev: close customisation, Up: close
31.1.8 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:' (filtering by status or realness) or '--auto' (generating
postings), since the generated 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
File: hledger.info, Node: close examples, Prev: close and balance assertions, Up: close
31.1.9 close examples
---------------------
* Menu:
* Retain earnings::
* Migrate balances to a new file::
* More detailed close examples::
File: hledger.info, Node: Retain earnings, Next: Migrate balances to a new file, Up: close examples
31.1.9.1 Retain earnings
........................
Record 2022's revenues/expenses as retained earnings on 2022-12-31,
appending 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'
File: hledger.info, Node: Migrate balances to a new file, Next: More detailed close examples, Prev: Retain earnings, Up: close examples
31.1.9.2 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
File: hledger.info, Node: More detailed close examples, Prev: Migrate balances to a new file, Up: close examples
31.1.9.3 More detailed close examples
.....................................
See examples/multi-year.
File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite, Prev: close, Up: Data generation commands
31.2 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.
* Menu:
* Re-write rules in a file::
* Diff output format::
* rewrite vs print --auto::
File: hledger.info, Node: Re-write rules in a file, Next: Diff output format, Up: rewrite
31.2.1 Re-write rules in a file
-------------------------------
During the run this tool will execute so called "Automated Transactions"
found in any journal it process. I.e instead of specifying this
operations in command line you can put them in a journal file.
$ rewrite-rules.journal
Make contents look like this:
= ^income
(liabilities:tax) *.33
= expenses:gifts
budget:gifts *-1
assets:budget *1
Note that ''='' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in
transactions you usually write. It indicates the query by which you
want to match the posting to add new ones.
$ hledger rewrite -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal
This is something similar to the commands pipeline:
$ hledger rewrite -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33' \
| hledger rewrite -f - expenses:gifts --add-posting 'budget:gifts *-1' \
--add-posting 'assets:budget *1' \
> rewritten-tidy-output.journal
It is important to understand that relative order of such entries in
journal is important. You can re-use result of previously added
postings.
File: hledger.info, Node: Diff output format, Next: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Re-write rules in a file, Up: rewrite
31.2.2 Diff output format
-------------------------
To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files you may
find useful output in form of unified diff.
$ hledger rewrite --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax) *.33'
Output might look like:
--- /tmp/examples/sample.journal
+++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@
2008/01/01 income
- assets:bank:checking $1
+ assets:bank:checking $1
income:salary
+ (liabilities:tax) 0
@@ -22,3 +23,4 @@
2008/06/01 gift
- assets:bank:checking $1
+ assets:bank:checking $1
income:gifts
+ (liabilities:tax) 0
If you'll pass this through 'patch' tool you'll get transactions
containing the posting that matches your query be updated. Note that
multiple files might be update according to list of input files
specified via '--file' options and 'include' directives inside of these
files.
Be careful. Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of
output from 'hledger print'.
See also:
https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99
File: hledger.info, Node: rewrite vs print --auto, Prev: Diff output format, Up: rewrite
31.2.3 rewrite vs. print -auto
------------------------------
This command predates print -auto, and currently does much the same
thing, but with these differences:
* with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all
other files. print -auto uses standard directive scoping; rules
affect only child files.
* rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten; all are
printed. print -auto's query limits which transactions are
printed.
* rewrite applies rules specified on command line or in the journal.
print -auto applies rules specified in the journal.
File: hledger.info, Node: Maintenance commands, Next: PART 5 COMMON TASKS, Prev: Data generation commands, Up: Top
32 Maintenance commands
***********************
* Menu:
* check::
* diff::
* setup::
* test::
File: hledger.info, Node: check, Next: diff, Up: Maintenance commands
32.1 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.
* Menu:
* Basic checks::
* Strict checks::
* Other checks::
* Custom checks::
File: hledger.info, Node: Basic checks, Next: Strict checks, Up: check
32.1.1 Basic checks
-------------------
These important checks are performed by default, by almost all hledger
commands:
* *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
inferring 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).
File: hledger.info, Node: Strict checks, Next: Other checks, Prev: Basic checks, Up: check
32.1.2 Strict checks
--------------------
When the '-s'/'--strict' flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands
will perform the following additional checks (and 'assertions', above).
These provide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data
clean and correct:
* *balanced* - like 'autobalanced', but implicit conversions between
commodities 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Other checks, Next: Custom checks, Prev: Strict checks, Up: check
32.1.3 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 encourage 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 assertions. Later these
become quite redundant, and you might choose to remove 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 account can be matched by a unique short name, easier
to remember and to type.
File: hledger.info, Node: Custom checks, Prev: Other checks, Up: check
32.1.4 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 passing
File: hledger.info, Node: diff, Next: setup, Prev: check, Up: Maintenance commands
32.2 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:
File: hledger.info, Node: setup, Next: test, Prev: diff, Up: Maintenance commands
32.3 setup
==========
Check the status of the hledger installation.
Flags:
no command-specific flags
'setup' tests your hledger installation and prints a list of results,
sometimes with helpful hints. This is a good first command to run after
installing 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, unless disabled by NO_COLOR or -color=n. It does not use a
pager or a config 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
simple).
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
File: hledger.info, Node: test, Prev: setup, Up: Maintenance commands
32.4 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
sanity-check the installed hledger executable on your platform. All
tests are expected to pass - if you ever see a failure, please report as
a bug!
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
File: hledger.info, Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS, Next: BUGS, Prev: Maintenance commands, Up: Top
33 PART 5: COMMON TASKS
***********************
Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.
* Menu:
* Getting help::
* Constructing command lines::
* Starting a journal file::
* Setting LEDGER_FILE::
* Setting opening balances::
* Recording transactions::
* Reconciling::
* Reporting::
* Migrating to a new file::
File: hledger.info, Node: Getting help, Next: Constructing command lines, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.1 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Constructing command lines, Next: Starting a journal file, Prev: Getting help, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.2 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 OPTIONS, here are some tips that might help:
* command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to
put common 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Starting a journal file, Next: Setting LEDGER_FILE, Prev: Constructing command lines, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.3 Starting a journal file
============================
hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file,
'$HOME/.hledger.journal' by default:
$ hledger stats
The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found.
Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor.
Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE.
You can override this by setting the 'LEDGER_FILE' environment
variable (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 ()
File: hledger.info, Node: Setting LEDGER_FILE, Next: Setting opening balances, Prev: Starting a journal file, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.4 Setting LEDGER_FILE
========================
* Menu:
* Set LEDGER_FILE on unix::
* Set LEDGER_FILE on mac::
* Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows::
File: hledger.info, Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix, Next: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac, Up: Setting LEDGER_FILE
33.4.1 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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac, Next: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows, Prev: Set LEDGER_FILE on unix, Up: Setting LEDGER_FILE
33.4.2 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 complete 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.
File: hledger.info, Node: Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows, Prev: Set LEDGER_FILE on mac, Up: Setting LEDGER_FILE
33.4.3 Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows
---------------------------------
It can be easier to create a default file at
'C:\Users\USER\.hledger.journal', 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
environment 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]::SetEnvironmentVariable("LEDGER_FILE",
"C:\User\USER\finance\main.journal",
[System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::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'.
File: hledger.info, Node: Setting opening balances, Next: Recording transactions, Prev: Setting LEDGER_FILE, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.5 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 similar 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
File: hledger.info, Node: Recording transactions, Next: Reconciling, Prev: Setting opening balances, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.6 Recording transactions
===========================
As you spend or receive money, you can record these transactions using
one of the methods above (text editor, hledger add) or by using the
hledger-iadd or hledger-web add-ons, or by using the import command to
convert CSV data downloaded from your bank.
Here are some simple transactions, see the hledger_journal(5) manual
and hledger.org for more ideas:
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
File: hledger.info, Node: Reconciling, Next: Reporting, Prev: Recording transactions, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.7 Reconciling
================
Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported
balances against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your
bank's website - to be sure that your ledger accurately represents the
real-world balances (and, that the real-world institutions have not made
a mistake!). This gets easy and fast with (1) practice and (2)
frequency. If you do it daily, it can take 2-10 minutes. If you let it
pile up, expect it to take longer as you hunt down errors and
discrepancies.
A typical workflow:
1. Reconcile cash. Count what's in your wallet. Compare with what
hledger reports ('hledger bal cash'). If they are different, try
to remember the missing transaction, or look for the error in the
already-recorded transactions. A register report can be helpful
('hledger reg cash'). If you can't find the error, add an
adjustment transaction. Eg if you have $105 after the above, and
can't explain the missing $2, it could be:
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
transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track
that, by adding the '*' marker. Eg in the paycheck transaction above,
insert '*' between '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
File: hledger.info, Node: Reporting, Next: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reconciling, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.8 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 ****
File: hledger.info, Node: Migrating to a new file, Prev: Reporting, Up: PART 5 COMMON TASKS
33.9 Migrating to a new file
============================
At the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new
file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports,
and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history. See the
close command.
If using version control, don't forget to 'git add' the new file.
File: hledger.info, Node: BUGS, Prev: PART 5 COMMON TASKS, Up: Top
34 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
window.)
When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than
Ledger.
* Menu:
* Troubleshooting::
File: hledger.info, Node: Troubleshooting, Up: BUGS
34.1 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 variable. 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: invalid 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.
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
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Node: Assertions and subaccounts89830
Node: Assertions and status90490
Node: Assertions and virtual postings90910
Node: Assertions and auto postings91275
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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
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Node: P directive131244
Node: payee directive132278
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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
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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
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Node: Field names179600
Node: date field180932
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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
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Node: expr query263179
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Node: Queries and command options264894
Node: Queries and account aliases265342
Node: Queries and valuation265667
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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
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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
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Node: payees348992
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Node: print355228
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Node: aregister and posting dates370492
Node: register371393
Node: Custom register output379114
Node: balancesheet380299
Node: balancesheetequity385264
Node: cashflow390599
Node: incomestatement395412
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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
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Node: diff480837
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Node: test484912
Node: PART 5 COMMON TASKS485815
Node: Getting help486264
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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
End Tag Table
Local Variables:
coding: utf-8
End: