.TH "hledger_csv" "5" "March 2017" "hledger 1.2" "hledger User Manuals"



.SH NAME
.PP
CSV \- how hledger reads CSV data, and the CSV rules file format
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
hledger can read CSV files, converting each CSV record into a journal
entry (transaction), if you provide some conversion hints in a "rules
file".
This file should be named like the CSV file with an additional
\f[C]\&.rules\f[] suffix (eg: \f[C]mybank.csv.rules\f[]); or, you can
specify the file with \f[C]\-\-rules\-file\ PATH\f[].
hledger will create it if necessary, with some default rules which
you\[aq]ll need to adjust.
At minimum, the rules file must specify the \f[C]date\f[] and
\f[C]amount\f[] fields.
For an example, see How to read CSV files.
.PP
To learn about \f[I]exporting\f[] CSV, see CSV output.
.SH CSV RULES
.PP
The following six kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any
order.
Blank lines and lines beginning with \f[C]#\f[] or \f[C];\f[] are
ignored.
.SS skip
.PP
\f[C]skip\f[]\f[I]\f[C]N\f[]\f[]
.PP
Skip this number of CSV records at the beginning.
You\[aq]ll need this whenever your CSV data contains header lines.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ ignore\ the\ first\ CSV\ line
skip\ 1
\f[]
.fi
.SS date\-format
.PP
\f[C]date\-format\f[]\f[I]\f[C]DATEFMT\f[]\f[]
.PP
When your CSV date fields are not formatted like \f[C]YYYY/MM/DD\f[] (or
\f[C]YYYY\-MM\-DD\f[] or \f[C]YYYY.MM.DD\f[]), you\[aq]ll need to
specify the format.
DATEFMT is a strptime\-like date parsing pattern, which must parse the
date field values completely.
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ for\ dates\ like\ "6/11/2013":
date\-format\ %\-d/%\-m/%Y
\f[]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ for\ dates\ like\ "11/06/2013":
date\-format\ %m/%d/%Y
\f[]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ for\ dates\ like\ "2013\-Nov\-06":
date\-format\ %Y\-%h\-%d
\f[]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ for\ dates\ like\ "11/6/2013\ 11:32\ PM":
date\-format\ %\-m/%\-d/%Y\ %l:%M\ %p
\f[]
.fi
.SS field list
.PP
\f[C]fields\f[]\f[I]\f[C]FIELDNAME1\f[]\f[],
\f[I]\f[C]FIELDNAME2\f[]\f[]...
.PP
This (a) names the CSV fields, in order (names may not contain
whitespace; uninteresting names may be left blank), and (b) assigns them
to journal entry fields if you use any of these standard field names:
\f[C]date\f[], \f[C]date2\f[], \f[C]status\f[], \f[C]code\f[],
\f[C]description\f[], \f[C]comment\f[], \f[C]account1\f[],
\f[C]account2\f[], \f[C]amount\f[], \f[C]amount\-in\f[],
\f[C]amount\-out\f[], \f[C]currency\f[].
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ use\ the\ 1st,\ 2nd\ and\ 4th\ CSV\ fields\ as\ the\ entry\[aq]s\ date,\ description\ and\ amount,
#\ and\ give\ the\ 7th\ and\ 8th\ fields\ meaningful\ names\ for\ later\ reference:
#
#\ CSV\ field:
#\ \ \ \ \ \ 1\ \ \ \ \ 2\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 3\ 4\ \ \ \ \ \ \ 5\ 6\ 7\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 8
#\ entry\ field:
fields\ date,\ description,\ ,\ amount,\ ,\ ,\ somefield,\ anotherfield
\f[]
.fi
.SS field assignment
.PP
\f[I]\f[C]ENTRYFIELDNAME\f[]\f[] \f[I]\f[C]FIELDVALUE\f[]\f[]
.PP
This sets a journal entry field (one of the standard names above) to the
given text value, which can include CSV field values interpolated by
name (\f[C]%CSVFIELDNAME\f[]) or 1\-based position (\f[C]%N\f[]).
 Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ set\ the\ amount\ to\ the\ 4th\ CSV\ field\ with\ "USD\ "\ prepended
amount\ USD\ %4
\f[]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ combine\ three\ fields\ to\ make\ a\ comment\ (containing\ two\ tags)
comment\ note:\ %somefield\ \-\ %anotherfield,\ date:\ %1
\f[]
.fi
.PP
Field assignments can be used instead of or in addition to a field list.
.SS conditional block
.PP
\f[C]if\f[] \f[I]\f[C]PATTERN\f[]\f[]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\ \ \ \ \f[I]\f[C]FIELDASSIGNMENTS\f[]\f[]...
.PP
\f[C]if\f[]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[I]\f[C]PATTERN\f[]\f[]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[I]\f[C]PATTERN\f[]\f[]...
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\ \ \ \ \f[I]\f[C]FIELDASSIGNMENTS\f[]\f[]...
.PP
This applies one or more field assignments, only to those CSV records
matched by one of the PATTERNs.
The patterns are case\-insensitive regular expressions which match
anywhere within the whole CSV record (it\[aq]s not yet possible to match
within a specific field).
When there are multiple patterns they can be written on separate lines,
unindented.
The field assignments are on separate lines indented by at least one
space.
Examples:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ if\ the\ CSV\ record\ contains\ "groceries",\ set\ account2\ to\ "expenses:groceries"
if\ groceries
\ account2\ expenses:groceries
\f[]
.fi
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ if\ the\ CSV\ record\ contains\ any\ of\ these\ patterns,\ set\ account2\ and\ comment\ as\ shown
if
monthly\ service\ fee
atm\ transaction\ fee
banking\ thru\ software
\ account2\ expenses:business:banking
\ comment\ \ XXX\ deductible\ ?\ check\ it
\f[]
.fi
.SS include
.PP
\f[C]include\f[]\f[I]\f[C]RULESFILE\f[]\f[]
.PP
Include another rules file at this point.
\f[C]RULESFILE\f[] is either an absolute file path or a path relative to
the current file\[aq]s directory.
Eg:
.IP
.nf
\f[C]
#\ rules\ reused\ with\ several\ CSV\ files
include\ common.rules
\f[]
.fi
.SH TIPS
.PP
Each generated journal entry will have two postings, to
\f[C]account1\f[] and \f[C]account2\f[] respectively.
Currently it\[aq]s not possible to generate entries with more than two
postings.
.PP
If the CSV has debit/credit amounts in separate fields, assign to the
\f[C]amount\-in\f[] and \f[C]amount\-out\f[] pseudo fields instead of
\f[C]amount\f[].
.PP
If the CSV has the currency in a separate field, assign that to the
\f[C]currency\f[] pseudo field which will be automatically prepended to
the amount.
(Or you can do the same thing with a field assignment.)
.PP
If an amount value is parenthesised, it will be de\-parenthesised and
sign\-flipped automatically.
.PP
The generated journal entries will be sorted by date.
The original order of same\-day entries will be preserved, usually.


.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org
(or on the #hledger IRC channel or hledger mail list)

.SH AUTHORS
Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors

.SH COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2007-2016 Simon Michael.
.br
Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.

.SH SEE ALSO
hledger(1), hledger\-ui(1), hledger\-web(1), hledger\-api(1),
hledger_csv(5), hledger_journal(5), hledger_timeclock(5), hledger_timedot(5),
ledger(1)

http://hledger.org