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File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Top,  Next: FILE FORMAT,  Up: (dir)

hledger_journal(5) hledger 1.12
*******************************

hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal
entries in hledger journal format.  This file represents a standard
accounting general journal.  I use file names ending in '.journal', but
that's not required.  The journal file contains a number of transaction
entries, each describing a transfer of money (or any commodity) between
two or more named accounts, in a simple format readable by both hledger
and humans.

   hledger's journal format is a compatible subset, mostly, of ledger's
journal format, so hledger can work with compatible ledger journal files
as well.  It's safe, and encouraged, to run both hledger and ledger on
the same journal file, eg to validate the results you're getting.

   You can use hledger without learning any more about this file; just
use the add or web commands to create and update it.  Many users,
though, also edit the journal file directly with a text editor, perhaps
assisted by the helper modes for emacs or vim.

   Here's an example:

; A sample journal file. This is a comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

* Menu:

* FILE FORMAT::
* EDITOR SUPPORT::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: FILE FORMAT,  Next: EDITOR SUPPORT,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 FILE FORMAT
*************

* Menu:

* Transactions::
* Postings::
* Dates::
* Status::
* Description::
* Account names::
* Amounts::
* Virtual Postings::
* Balance Assertions::
* Balance Assignments::
* Transaction prices::
* Comments::
* Tags::
* Directives::
* Periodic transactions::
* Transaction Modifiers::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Transactions,  Next: Postings,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.1 Transactions
================

Transactions are movements of some quantity of commodities between named
accounts.  Each transaction is represented by a journal entry beginning
with a simple date in column 0.  This can be followed by any of the
following, separated by spaces:

   * (optional) a status character (empty, '!', or '*')
   * (optional) a transaction code (any short number or text, enclosed
     in parentheses)
   * (optional) a transaction description (any remaining text until end
     of line or a semicolon)
   * (optional) a transaction comment (any remaining text following a
     semicolon until end of line)

   Then comes zero or more (but usually at least 2) indented lines
representing...


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Postings,  Next: Dates,  Prev: Transactions,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.2 Postings
============

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

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Dates,  Next: Status,  Prev: Postings,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.3 Dates
=========

* Menu:

* Simple dates::
* Secondary dates::
* Posting dates::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Simple dates,  Next: Secondary dates,  Up: Dates

1.3.1 Simple dates
------------------

Within a journal file, transaction dates use Y/M/D (or Y-M-D or Y.M.D)
Leading zeros are optional.  The year may be omitted, in which case it
will be inferred from the context - the current transaction, the default
year set with a default year directive, or the current date when the
command is run.  Some examples: '2010/01/31', '1/31', '2010-01-31',
'2010.1.31'.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Secondary dates,  Next: Posting dates,  Prev: Simple dates,  Up: Dates

1.3.2 Secondary dates
---------------------

Real-life transactions sometimes involve more than one date - eg the
date you write a cheque, and the date it clears in your bank.  When you
want to model this, eg for more accurate balances, you can specify
individual posting dates, which I recommend.  Or, you can use the
secondary dates (aka auxiliary/effective dates) feature, supported for
compatibility with Ledger.

   A secondary date can be written after the primary date, separated by
an equals sign.  The primary date, on the left, is used by default; the
secondary date, on the right, is used when the '--date2' flag is
specified ('--aux-date' or '--effective' also work).

   The meaning of secondary dates is up to you, but it's best to follow
a consistent rule.  Eg write the bank's clearing date as primary, and
when needed, the date the transaction was initiated as secondary.

   Here's an example.  Note that a secondary date will use the year of
the primary date if unspecified.

2010/2/23=2/19 movie ticket
  expenses:cinema                   $10
  assets:checking

$ hledger register checking
2010/02/23 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10

$ hledger register checking --date2
2010/02/19 movie ticket         assets:checking                $-10         $-10

   Secondary dates require some effort; you must use them consistently
in your journal entries and remember whether to use or not use the
'--date2' flag for your reports.  They are included in hledger for
Ledger compatibility, but posting dates are a more powerful and less
confusing alternative.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Posting dates,  Prev: Secondary dates,  Up: Dates

1.3.3 Posting dates
-------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Status,  Next: Description,  Prev: Dates,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.4 Status
==========

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

mark  status
 
-----------------
      unmarked
'!'   pending
'*'   cleared

   When reporting, you can filter by status with the '-U/--unmarked',
'-P/--pending', and '-C/--cleared' flags; or the 'status:', 'status:!',
and 'status:*' queries; or the U, P, C keys in hledger-ui.

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

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

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Description,  Next: Account names,  Prev: Status,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.5 Description
===============

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

* Payee and note::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Payee and note,  Up: Description

1.5.1 Payee and note
--------------------

You can optionally include a '|' (pipe) character in a description to
subdivide it into a payee/payer name on the left and additional notes on
the right.  This may be worthwhile if you need to do more precise
querying and pivoting by payee.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Account names,  Next: Amounts,  Prev: Description,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.6 Account names
=================

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

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

   Account names can be aliased.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Amounts,  Next: Virtual Postings,  Prev: Account names,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.7 Amounts
===========

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

   Amounts consist of a number and (usually) a currency symbol or
commodity name.  Some examples:

   '2.00001'
'$1'
'4000 AAPL'
'3 "green apples"'
'-$1,000,000.00'
'INR 9,99,99,999.00'
'EUR -2.000.000,00'
'1 999 999.9455'
'EUR 1E3'
'1000E-6s'

   As you can see, the amount format is somewhat flexible:

   * amounts are a number (the "quantity") and optionally a currency
     symbol/commodity name (the "commodity").
   * the commodity is a symbol, word, or phrase, on the left or right,
     with or without a separating space.  If the commodity contains
     numbers, spaces or non-word punctuation it must be enclosed in
     double quotes.
   * negative amounts with a commodity on the left can have the minus
     sign before or after it
   * digit groups (thousands, or any other grouping) can be separated by
     space or comma or period and should be used as separator between
     all groups
   * decimal part can be separated by comma or period and should be
     different from digit groups separator
   * scientific E-notation is allowed.  Be careful not to use a digit
     group separator character in scientific notation, as it's not
     supported and it might get mistaken for a decimal point.
     (Declaring the digit group separator character explicitly with a
     commodity directive will prevent this.)

   You can use any of these variations when recording data.  However,
there is some ambiguous way of representing numbers like '$1.000' and
'$1,000' both may mean either one thousand or one dollar.  By default
hledger will assume that this is sole delimiter is used only for
decimals.  On the other hand commodity format declared prior to that
line will help to resolve that ambiguity differently:

commodity $1,000.00

2017/12/25 New life of Scrooge
    expenses:gifts  $1,000
    assets

   Though journal may contain mixed styles to represent amount, when
hledger displays amounts, it will choose a consistent format for each
commodity.  (Except for price amounts, which are always formatted as
written).  The display format is chosen as follows:

   * if there is a commodity directive specifying the format, that is
     used
   * otherwise the format is inferred from the first posting amount in
     that commodity in the journal, and the precision (number of decimal
     places) will be the maximum from all posting amounts in that
     commmodity
   * or if there are no such amounts in the journal, a default format is
     used (like '$1000.00').

   Price amounts and amounts in 'D' directives usually don't affect
amount format inference, but in some situations they can do so
indirectly.  (Eg when D's default commodity is applied to a
commodity-less amount, or when an amountless posting is balanced using a
price's commodity, or when -V is used.)  If you find this causing
problems, set the desired format with a commodity directive.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Virtual Postings,  Next: Balance Assertions,  Prev: Amounts,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.8 Virtual Postings
====================

When you parenthesise the account name in a posting, we call that a
_virtual posting_, which means:

   * it is ignored when checking that the transaction is balanced
   * it is excluded from reports when the '--real/-R' flag is used, or
     the 'real:1' query.

   You could use this, eg, to set an account's opening balance without
needing to use the 'equity:opening balances' account:

1/1 special unbalanced posting to set initial balance
  (assets:checking)   $1000

   When the account name is bracketed, we call it a _balanced virtual
posting_.  This is like an ordinary virtual posting except the balanced
virtual postings in a transaction must balance to 0, like the real
postings (but separately from them).  Balanced virtual postings are also
excluded by '--real/-R' or 'real:1'.

1/1 buy food with cash, and update some budget-tracking subaccounts elsewhere
  expenses:food                   $10
  assets:cash                    $-10
  [assets:checking:available]     $10
  [assets:checking:budget:food]  $-10

   Virtual postings have some legitimate uses, but those are few.  You
can usually find an equivalent journal entry using real postings, which
is more correct and provides better error checking.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Balance Assertions,  Next: Balance Assignments,  Prev: Virtual Postings,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.9 Balance Assertions
======================

hledger supports Ledger-style balance assertions in journal files.
These look like '=EXPECTEDBALANCE' following a posting's amount.  Eg in
this example 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 '--ignore-assertions' flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting
or for reading Ledger files.
* Menu:

* Assertions and ordering::
* Assertions and included files::
* Assertions and multiple -f options::
* Assertions and commodities::
* Assertions and subaccounts::
* Assertions and virtual postings::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and ordering,  Next: Assertions and included files,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.1 Assertions and ordering
-----------------------------

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and included files,  Next: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Prev: Assertions and ordering,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.2 Assertions and included files
-----------------------------------

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Next: Assertions and commodities,  Prev: Assertions and included files,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.3 Assertions and multiple -f options
----------------------------------------

Balance assertions don't work well across files specified with multiple
-f options.  Use include or concatenate the files instead.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and commodities,  Next: Assertions and subaccounts,  Prev: Assertions and multiple -f options,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.4 Assertions and commodities
--------------------------------

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

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

   You can make a stronger kind of balance assertion, by writing a
double equals sign ('==EXPECTEDBALANCE').  This "complete" balance
assertion asserts the absence of other commodities (or, that their
balance is 0, which to hledger is equivalent.)

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

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

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and subaccounts,  Next: Assertions and virtual postings,  Prev: Assertions and commodities,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.5 Assertions and subaccounts
--------------------------------

Balance assertions do not count the balance from subaccounts; they check
the posted account's exclusive balance.  For example:

1/1
  checking:fund   1 = 1  ; post to this subaccount, its balance is now 1
  checking        1 = 1  ; post to the parent account, its exclusive balance is now 1
  equity

   The balance report's flat mode shows these exclusive balances more
clearly:

$ hledger bal checking --flat
                   1  checking
                   1  checking:fund
--------------------
                   2


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Assertions and virtual postings,  Prev: Assertions and subaccounts,  Up: Balance Assertions

1.9.6 Assertions and virtual postings
-------------------------------------

Balance assertions are checked against all postings, both real and
virtual.  They are not affected by the '--real/-R' flag or 'real:'
query.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Balance Assignments,  Next: Transaction prices,  Prev: Balance Assertions,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.10 Balance Assignments
========================

Ledger-style balance assignments are also supported.  These are like
balance assertions, but with no posting amount on the left side of the
equals sign; instead it is calculated automatically so as to satisfy the
assertion.  This can be a convenience during data entry, eg when setting
opening balances:

; starting a new journal, set asset account balances 
2016/1/1 opening balances
  assets:checking            = $409.32
  assets:savings             = $735.24
  assets:cash                 = $42
  equity:opening balances

   or when adjusting a balance to reality:

; no cash left; update balance, record any untracked spending as a generic expense
2016/1/15
  assets:cash    = $0
  expenses:misc

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Transaction prices,  Next: Comments,  Prev: Balance Assignments,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.11 Transaction prices
=======================

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

   There are several ways to record a transaction price:

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

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

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

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

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

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

   (Ledger users: Ledger uses a different syntax for fixed prices,
'{=UNITPRICE}', which hledger currently ignores).

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

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

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

2009/1/1
  assets:dollars  $-135               ; 135 dollars sold
  assets:euros     €100               ; for 100 euros

$ hledger bal -N --flat -B
               €-100  assets:dollars  # <- the dollars' selling price
                €100  assets:euros


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Comments,  Next: Tags,  Prev: Transaction prices,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.12 Comments
=============

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

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

   Some examples:

# a file comment

; also a file comment

comment
This is a multiline file comment,
which continues until a line
where the "end comment" string
appears on its own (or end of file).
end comment

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

   You can also comment larger regions of a file using 'comment' and
'end comment' directives.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Tags,  Next: Directives,  Prev: Comments,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.13 Tags
=========

Tags are a way to add extra labels or labelled data to postings and
transactions, which you can then search or pivot on.

   A simple tag is a word (which may contain hyphens) followed by a full
colon, written inside a transaction or posting comment line:

2017/1/16 bought groceries    ; sometag:

   Tags can have a value, which is the text after the colon, up to the
next comma or end of line, with leading/trailing whitespace removed:

    expenses:food    $10   ; a-posting-tag: the tag value

   Note this means hledger's tag values can not contain commas or
newlines.  Ending at commas means you can write multiple short tags on
one line, comma separated:

    assets:checking       ; a comment containing tag1:, tag2: some value ...

   Here,

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

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

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

   Tags are like Ledger's metadata feature, except hledger's tag values
are simple strings.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Directives,  Next: Periodic transactions,  Prev: Tags,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.14 Directives
===============

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

   Directives' behaviour and interactions can get a little bit complex,
so here is a table summarising the directives and their effects, with
links to more detailed docs.

directiveend       subdirectivespurpose                  can affect (as of
         directive                                       2018/06)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'account'          any     document account names,       all entries in
                   text    declare account types &       all files, before
                           display order                 or after
'alias'  'end              rewrite account names         following
         aliases'                                        inline/included
                                                         entries until end
                                                         of current file
                                                         or end directive
'apply   'end              prepend a common parent to    following
account' apply             account names                 inline/included
         account'                                        entries until end
                                                         of current file
                                                         or end directive
'comment''end              ignore part of journal        following
         comment'                                        inline/included
                                                         entries until end
                                                         of current file
                                                         or end directive
'commodity'        'format'declare a commodity and its   number notation:
                           number notation & display     following entries
                           style                         in that commodity
                                                         in all files;
                                                         display style:
                                                         amounts of that
                                                         commodity in
                                                         reports
'D'                        declare a commodity, number   commodity: all
                           notation & display style      commodityless
                           for commodityless amounts     entries in all
                                                         files; number
                                                         notation:
                                                         following
                                                         commodityless
                                                         entries and
                                                         entries in that
                                                         commodity in all
                                                         files; display
                                                         style: amounts of
                                                         that commodity in
                                                         reports
'include'                  include entries/directives    what the included
                           from another file             directives affect
'P'                        declare a market price for    amounts of that
                           a commodity                   commodity in
                                                         reports, when -V
                                                         is used
'Y'                        declare a year for yearless   following
                           dates                         inline/included
                                                         entries until end
                                                         of current file

   And some definitions:

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

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

   If you have a journal made up of multiple files, or pass multiple -f
options on the command line, note that directives which affect input
typically last only until the end of their defining file.  This provides
more simplicity and predictability, eg reports are not changed by
writing file options in a different order.  It can be surprising at
times though.
* Menu:

* Comment blocks::
* Including other files::
* Default year::
* Declaring commodities::
* Default commodity::
* Market prices::
* Declaring accounts::
* Rewriting accounts::
* Default parent account::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Comment blocks,  Next: Including other files,  Up: Directives

1.14.1 Comment blocks
---------------------

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Including other files,  Next: Default year,  Prev: Comment blocks,  Up: Directives

1.14.2 Including other files
----------------------------

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

include path/to/file.journal

   If the path does not begin with a slash, it is relative to the
current file.  The include file path may contain common glob patterns
(e.g.  '*').

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Default year,  Next: Declaring commodities,  Prev: Including other files,  Up: Directives

1.14.3 Default year
-------------------

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

Y2009      ; set default year to 2009

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

Y2010      ; change default year to 2010

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Declaring commodities,  Next: Default commodity,  Prev: Default year,  Up: Directives

1.14.4 Declaring commodities
----------------------------

The 'commodity' directive declares commodities which may be used in the
journal (though currently we do not enforce this).  It may be written on
a single line, like this:

; commodity EXAMPLEAMOUNT

; display AAAA amounts with the symbol on the right, space-separated,
; using period as decimal point, with four decimal places, and
; separating thousands with comma.
commodity 1,000.0000 AAAA

   or on multiple lines, using the "format" subdirective.  In this case
the commodity symbol appears twice and should be the same in both
places:

; commodity SYMBOL
;   format EXAMPLEAMOUNT

; display indian rupees with currency name on the left,
; thousands, lakhs and crores comma-separated,
; period as decimal point, and two decimal places.
commodity INR
  format INR 9,99,99,999.00

   Commodity directives have a second purpose: they define the standard
display format for amounts in the commodity.  Normally the display
format is inferred from journal entries, but this can be unpredictable;
declaring it with a commodity directive overrides this and removes
ambiguity.  Towards this end, amounts in commodity directives must
always be written with a decimal point (a period or comma, followed by 0
or more decimal digits).


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Default commodity,  Next: Market prices,  Prev: Declaring commodities,  Up: Directives

1.14.5 Default commodity
------------------------

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

# commodity-less amounts should be treated as dollars
# (and displayed with symbol on the left, thousands separators and two decimal places)
D $1,000.00

1/1
  a     5    ; <- commodity-less amount, becomes $1
  b

   As with the 'commodity' directive, the amount must always be written
with a decimal point.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Market prices,  Next: Declaring accounts,  Prev: Default commodity,  Up: Directives

1.14.6 Market prices
--------------------

The 'P' directive declares a market price, which is an exchange rate
between two commodities on a certain date.  (In Ledger, they are called
"historical prices".)  These are often obtained from a stock exchange,
cryptocurrency exchange, or the foreign exchange market.

   Here is the format:

P DATE COMMODITYA COMMODITYBAMOUNT

   * DATE is a simple date
   * COMMODITYA is the symbol of the commodity being priced
   * COMMODITYBAMOUNT is an amount (symbol and quantity) in a second
     commodity, giving the price in commodity B of one unit of commodity
     A.

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

P 2009/1/1 € $1.35
P 2010/1/1 € $1.40

   The '-V/--value' flag can be used to convert reported amounts to
another commodity using these prices.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Declaring accounts,  Next: Rewriting accounts,  Prev: Market prices,  Up: Directives

1.14.7 Declaring accounts
-------------------------

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

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

   Here is the full syntax:

account ACCTNAME  [ACCTTYPE]
  [COMMENTS]

   The simplest form just declares a hledger-style account name, eg:

account assets:bank:checking

* Menu:

* Account types::
* Account comments::
* Account display order::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Account types,  Next: Account comments,  Up: Declaring accounts

1.14.7.1 Account types
......................

hledger recognises five types of account: asset, liability, equity,
revenue, expense.  This is useful for certain accounting-aware reports,
in particular balancesheet, incomestatement and cashflow.

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

   More generally, you can declare an account's type by adding one of
the letters 'ALERX' to its account directive, separated from the account
name by two or more spaces.  Eg:

account assets       A
account liabilities  L
account equity       E
account revenues     R
account expenses     X

   Note: if you ever override the types of those auto-detected english
account names mentioned above, you might need to help the reports a bit:

; make "liabilities" not have the liability type, who knows why
account liabilities   E

; better ensure some other account has the liability type, 
; otherwise balancesheet would still show "liabilities" under Liabilities 
account -             L

   )


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Account comments,  Next: Account display order,  Prev: Account types,  Up: Declaring accounts

1.14.7.2 Account comments
.........................

An account directive can also have indented comments on following lines,
eg:

account assets:bank:checking
  ; acctno:12345
  ; a comment

   We also allow (and ignore) Ledger-style subdirectives, with no
leading semicolon, for compatibility.

   Tags in account comments, like 'acctno' above, currently have no
effect.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Account display order,  Prev: Account comments,  Up: Declaring accounts

1.14.7.3 Account display order
..............................

Account directives also set the order in which accounts are displayed in
reports, the hledger-ui accounts screen, the hledger-web sidebar, etc.
Normally accounts are listed in alphabetical order, but if you have eg
these account directives in the journal:

account assets
account liabilities
account equity
account revenues
account expenses

   you'll see those accounts listed in declaration order, not
alphabetically:

$ hledger accounts -1
assets
liabilities
equity
revenues
expenses

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

   Note that sorting is done at each level of the account tree (within
each group of sibling accounts under the same parent).  And currently,
this directive:

account other:zoo

   would influence the position of 'zoo' among 'other''s subaccounts,
but not the position of 'other' among the top-level accounts.  This
means: - you will sometimes declare parent accounts (eg 'account other'
above) that you don't intend to post to, just to customize their display
order - sibling accounts stay together (you couldn't display 'x:y' in
between 'a:b' and 'a:c').


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Rewriting accounts,  Next: Default parent account,  Prev: Declaring accounts,  Up: Directives

1.14.8 Rewriting accounts
-------------------------

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

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

   Account aliases also rewrite account names in account directives.
They do not affect account names being entered via hledger add or
hledger-web.

   See also Cookbook: Rewrite account names.
* Menu:

* Basic aliases::
* Regex aliases::
* Multiple aliases::
* end aliases::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Basic aliases,  Next: Regex aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

1.14.8.1 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.  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_journal.info,  Node: Regex aliases,  Next: Multiple aliases,  Prev: Basic aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

1.14.8.2 Regex aliases
......................

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

alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT

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

   REGEX is a case-insensitive regular expression.  Anywhere it matches
inside an account name, the matched part will be replaced by
REPLACEMENT. If REGEX contains parenthesised match groups, these can be
referenced by the usual numeric backreferences in REPLACEMENT. Eg:

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Multiple aliases,  Next: end aliases,  Prev: Regex aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

1.14.8.3 Multiple aliases
.........................

You can define as many aliases as you like using directives or
command-line options.  Aliases are recursive - each alias sees the
result of applying previous ones.  (This is different from Ledger, where
aliases are non-recursive by default).  Aliases are applied in the
following order:

  1. alias directives, most recently seen first (recent directives take
     precedence over earlier ones; directives not yet seen are ignored)
  2. alias options, in the order they appear on the command line


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: end aliases,  Prev: Multiple aliases,  Up: Rewriting accounts

1.14.8.4 'end aliases'
......................

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

end aliases


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Default parent account,  Prev: Rewriting accounts,  Up: Directives

1.14.9 Default parent account
-----------------------------

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

apply account home

2010/1/1
    food    $10
    cash

end apply account

   which is equivalent to:

2010/01/01
    home:food           $10
    home:cash          $-10

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Periodic transactions,  Next: Transaction Modifiers,  Prev: Directives,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.15 Periodic transactions
==========================

Periodic transaction rules describe transactions that recur.  They allow
you to generate future transactions for forecasting, without having to
write them out explicitly in the journal (with '--forecast').  Secondly,
they also can be used to define budget goals (with '--budget').

   A periodic transaction rule looks like a normal journal entry, with
the date replaced by a tilde ('~') followed by a period expression
(mnemonic: '~' looks like a recurring sine wave.):

~ monthly
    expenses:rent          $2000
    assets:bank:checking

   There is an additional constraint on the period expression: the start
date must fall on a natural boundary of the interval.  Eg 'monthly from
2018/1/1' is valid, but 'monthly from 2018/1/15' is not.

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

   Period expressions must be terminated by *two or more spaces* if
followed by additional fields.  For example, the periodic transaction
given below includes a transaction description "paycheck", which is
separated from the period expression by a double space.  If not for the
second space, hledger would attempt (and fail) to parse "paycheck" as a
part of the period expression.

;                                2 or more spaces
;                                      ||
;                                      vv
~ every 2 weeks from 2018/6/4 to 2018/9  paycheck
    assets:bank:checking   $1500
    income:acme inc

* Menu:

* Forecasting with periodic transactions::
* Budgeting with periodic transactions::


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions,  Next: Budgeting with periodic transactions,  Up: Periodic transactions

1.15.1 Forecasting with periodic transactions
---------------------------------------------

With the '--forecast' flag, each periodic transaction rule generates
future transactions recurring at the specified interval.  These are not
saved in the journal, but appear in all reports.  They will look like
normal transactions, but with an extra tag named 'recur', whose value is
the generating period expression.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions,  Prev: Forecasting with periodic transactions,  Up: Periodic transactions

1.15.2 Budgeting with periodic transactions
-------------------------------------------

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

   For more details, see: balance: Budget report and Cookbook: Budgeting
and Forecasting.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: Transaction Modifiers,  Prev: Periodic transactions,  Up: FILE FORMAT

1.16 Transaction Modifiers
==========================

Transaction modifier rules describe changes that should be applied
automatically to certain transactions.  Currently, this means adding
extra postings (also known as "automated postings").  Transaction
modifiers are enabled by the '--auto' flag.

   A transaction modifier rule looks quite like a normal transaction,
except the first line is an equals sign followed by a query that matches
certain postings (mnemonic: '=' suggests matching).  And each "posting"
is actually a posting-generating rule:

= QUERY
    ACCT  AMT
    ACCT  [AMT]
    ...

   The posting rules look just like normal postings, except the amount
can be:

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

   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

   Postings added by transaction modifiers participate in transaction
balancing, missing amount inference and balance assertions, like regular
postings.


File: hledger_journal.info,  Node: EDITOR SUPPORT,  Prev: FILE FORMAT,  Up: Top

2 EDITOR SUPPORT
****************

Add-on modes exist for various text editors, to make working with
journal files easier.  They add colour, navigation aids and helpful
commands.  For hledger users who edit the journal file directly (the
majority), using one of these modes is quite recommended.

   These were written with Ledger in mind, but also work with hledger
files:

Editor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emacs        http://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger-mode.html
Vim          https://github.com/ledger/vim-ledger
Sublime      https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Editing-Ledger-files-with-Sublime-Text-or-RubyMine
Text
Textmate     https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Using-TextMate-2
Text         https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Editing-Ledger-files-with-TextWrangler
Wrangler  
Visual       https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mark-hansen.hledger-vscode
Studio
Code


Tag Table:
Node: Top76
Node: FILE FORMAT2372
Ref: #file-format2496
Node: Transactions2783
Ref: #transactions2904
Node: Postings3588
Ref: #postings3715
Node: Dates4710
Ref: #dates4825
Node: Simple dates4890
Ref: #simple-dates5016
Node: Secondary dates5382
Ref: #secondary-dates5536
Node: Posting dates7099
Ref: #posting-dates7228
Node: Status8602
Ref: #status8722
Node: Description10430
Ref: #description10568
Node: Payee and note10887
Ref: #payee-and-note11001
Node: Account names11243
Ref: #account-names11386
Node: Amounts11873
Ref: #amounts12009
Node: Virtual Postings15026
Ref: #virtual-postings15185
Node: Balance Assertions16405
Ref: #balance-assertions16580
Node: Assertions and ordering17476
Ref: #assertions-and-ordering17662
Node: Assertions and included files18362
Ref: #assertions-and-included-files18603
Node: Assertions and multiple -f options18936
Ref: #assertions-and-multiple--f-options19190
Node: Assertions and commodities19322
Ref: #assertions-and-commodities19557
Node: Assertions and subaccounts20745
Ref: #assertions-and-subaccounts20977
Node: Assertions and virtual postings21498
Ref: #assertions-and-virtual-postings21705
Node: Balance Assignments21847
Ref: #balance-assignments22028
Node: Transaction prices23148
Ref: #transaction-prices23317
Node: Comments25585
Ref: #comments25719
Node: Tags26889
Ref: #tags27007
Node: Directives28409
Ref: #directives28552
Node: Comment blocks34159
Ref: #comment-blocks34304
Node: Including other files34480
Ref: #including-other-files34660
Node: Default year35068
Ref: #default-year35237
Node: Declaring commodities35660
Ref: #declaring-commodities35843
Node: Default commodity37070
Ref: #default-commodity37246
Node: Market prices37882
Ref: #market-prices38047
Node: Declaring accounts38888
Ref: #declaring-accounts39064
Node: Account types40021
Ref: #account-types40170
Node: Account comments41244
Ref: #account-comments41429
Node: Account display order41750
Ref: #account-display-order41923
Node: Rewriting accounts43045
Ref: #rewriting-accounts43230
Node: Basic aliases43964
Ref: #basic-aliases44110
Node: Regex aliases44814
Ref: #regex-aliases44985
Node: Multiple aliases45703
Ref: #multiple-aliases45878
Node: end aliases46376
Ref: #end-aliases46523
Node: Default parent account46624
Ref: #default-parent-account46790
Node: Periodic transactions47674
Ref: #periodic-transactions47856
Node: Forecasting with periodic transactions49559
Ref: #forecasting-with-periodic-transactions49802
Node: Budgeting with periodic transactions51489
Ref: #budgeting-with-periodic-transactions51728
Node: Transaction Modifiers52187
Ref: #transaction-modifiers52350
Node: EDITOR SUPPORT54331
Ref: #editor-support54449

End Tag Table
