
HLEDGER(1)                   hledger User Manuals                   HLEDGER(1)

NAME
       hledger  -  a  robust, friendly plain text accounting app (command line
       version).

SYNOPSIS
       hledger
       or
       hledger COMMAND [OPTS] [ARGS]
DESCRIPTION
       hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs  for
       tracking  money,  time,  or any other commodity, using double-entry ac-
       counting 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 1.51.   It
       also  describes  the  common options, file formats and concepts used by
       all hledger programs.  It might accidentally teach you  some  bookkeep-
       ing/accounting  as  well!  You don't need to know everything in here to
       use hledger productively, but when you have a question about  function-
       ality,  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 de-
       scribing 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,  peo-
       ple,  etc.  You can choose any account names you wish, using : to indi-
       cate 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 exten-
       sive/efficient changes, use a text editor: Emacs + ledger-mode,  VIM  +
       vim-ledger,  or  VS  Code  +  hledger-vscode are some good choices (see
       https://hledger.org/editors.html).

       To get started, run hledger add and follow the prompts,  or  save  some
       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.

PART 1: USER INTERFACE
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 trans-
       actions, 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 or-
       ganised).  So we usually configure a different journal file, by setting
       the  LEDGER_FILE  environment  variable,  to   something   like   ~/fi-
       nance/2023.journal.   For more about how to do that on your system, see
       Common tasks > Setting LEDGER_FILE.

   Text encoding
       hledger expects non-ascii input to be decodable  with  the  system  lo-
       cale'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, con-
       figure your system locale appropriately, and/or convert  the  files  to
       your  system's  text  encoding  (using  iconv on unix, or powershell or
       notepad on Windows).  See Install: Text encoding for more tips.

       hledger's output will use the system locale's encoding.

       hledger's docs and example files mostly use UTF-8 encoding.

   Data formats
       Usually the data file is in hledger's journal format, but it can be  in
       any of the supported file formats, which currently are:

       Reader:         Reads:                              Automatically  used for
                                                           files with extensions:
       -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       journal         hledger journal  files  and  some   .journal   .j  .hledger
                       Ledger journals, for transactions   .ledger
       timeclock       timeclock files, for precise time   .timeclock
                       logging
       timedot         timedot  files,  for  approximate   .timedot
                       time logging
       csv             Comma-  or  other delimiter-sepa-   .csv
                       rated values, for data import
       ssv             Semicolon separated values          .ssv
       tsv             Tab separated values                .tsv
       rules           CSV/SSV/TSV/other separated  val-   .rules
                       ues, alternate way

       These formats are described in more detail below.

       hledger  detects  the format automatically based on the file extensions
       shown above.  If it can't recognise  the  file  extension,  it  assumes
       journal  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

   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  for-
       mat as a prefix, like timeclock: here:

              $ echo 'i 2009/13/1 08:00:00' | hledger print -f timeclock:-

   Multiple files
       You  can specify multiple -f options, to read multiple files as one big
       journal.  When doing this, note that certain features (described below)
       will be affected:

       o Balance assertions will not see the effect of transactions in  previ-
         ous  files.   (Usually  this doesn't matter as each file will set the
         corresponding opening balances.)

       o Some directives will not affect previous or subsequent files.

       If needed, you can work around these by  using  a  single  parent  file
       which includes the others, or concatenating the files into one, eg: cat
       a.journal b.journal | hledger -f- CMD.

   Strict mode
       hledger checks input files for valid data.  By default, the most impor-
       tant  errors  are  detected,  while  still accepting easy journal files
       without a lot of declarations:

       o Are the input files parseable, with valid syntax ?

       o Are all transactions balanced ?

       o Do all balance assertions pass ?

       With the -s/--strict flag, additional checks are performed:

       o Are all accounts posted to, declared  with  an  account  directive  ?
         (Account error checking)

       o Are all commodities declared with a commodity directive ?  (Commodity
         error checking)

       o Are all commodity conversions declared explicitly ?

       You  can  use  the  check  command  to run individual checks - the ones
       listed above and some more.

Commands
       hledger provides various subcommands for getting things done.  Most  of
       these  commands  do  not change the journal file; they just read it and
       output a report.  A few commands assist with adding data and file  man-
       agement.   Some  often-used  commands  are  add,  print, register, bal-
       ancesheet 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],

       o CMD  is  the full command name, or its standard abbreviation shown in
         the commands list, or any unambiguous prefix of the name.

       o CMDOPTS are command-specific options, if any.   Command-specific  op-
         tions must be written after the command name.  Eg: hledger print -x.

       o 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 termi-
       nal, run hledger CMD -h.  Eg: hledger bal -h.

   Add-on commands
       In  addition to the built-in commands, you can install add-on commands,
       which will also appear in hledger's commands list.  Some of  these  can
       be  installed  as  separate  packages; others can be found in hledger's
       bin/ 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.)

Options
       Run  hledger -h to see general command line help.  Options can be writ-
       ten either before or after the command name.  These  options  are  spe-
       cific 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 exclu-
       sive, 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.

   Special characters
       In commands you type at the command line, certain characters have  spe-
       cial meaning and sometimes need to be "escaped" or "quoted", by prefix-
       ing 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.)

   Escaping shell special characters
       These  are some characters which may have special meaning to your shell
       (the program which interprets command lines):

       o SPACE, <, >, (, ), |, \, %

       o $ 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  proba-
       bly  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 (de-
       scribed below), you could also fill that gap with . which  matches  any
       character:

              $ hledger register credit.card

   Escaping regular expression special characters
       Some characters also have special meaning in regular expressions, which
       hledger's arguments often are.  Those include:

       o ., ^, $, [, ], (, ), |, \

       To  escape  one of these, write \ before it.  But note this is in addi-
       tion 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  regu-
          lar  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:'\$'

   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 refer-
       ence:

       In unix shell       Use single quotes and/or backslash (or double quotes
                           for variable interpolation)
       In Windows power-   Use single quotes (or double quotes for variable in-
       shell               terpolation)
       In Windows cmd      Use double quotes
       In   hledger-ui's   Use single or double quotes
       filter prompt
       In  hledger-web's   Use single or double quotes
       search form
       In   an  argument   Don't use spaces, don't shell-escape,  do  regex-es-
       file                cape, write one argument/option per line
       In a config file    Use  single  or double quotes, and enclose the whole
                           argument ('desc:a b' not desc:'a b')
       In   ghci    (the   Use double quotes, and enclose the whole argument
       Haskell REPL)

   Unicode characters
       hledger is expected to handle non-ascii characters correctly:

       o they  should  be  parsed  correctly in input files and on the command
         line, by all hledger tools (add, iadd, hledger-web's  search/add/edit
         forms, etc.)

       o they  should  be  displayed  correctly  by  all  hledger  tools,  and
         on-screen alignment should be preserved.

       This requires a well-configured environment.  Here are some tips:

       o A system locale must be configured, which can decode  the  characters
         being  used.  This is essential - see Text encoding and Install: Text
         encoding.

       o Your terminal software (eg  Terminal.app,  iTerm,  CMD.exe,  xterm..)
         must support unicode.  On Windows, you may need to use Windows Termi-
         nal.

       o The terminal must be using a font which includes the required unicode
         glyphs.

       o The  terminal should be configured to display wide characters as dou-
         ble width (for report alignment).

       o On Windows, for best results you should run hledger in the same  kind
         of  environment in which it was built.  Eg hledger built in the stan-
         dard CMD.EXE environment (like the binaries  on  our  download  page)
         might  show  display  problems when run in a cygwin or msys terminal,
         and vice versa.  (See eg #961).

   Regular expressions
       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-expres-
       sions.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  char-
       acters above).  Here are some examples:

       Account name queries (quoted for command line use):

              Regular expression:  Matches:
              -------------------  ------------------------------------------------------------
              bank                 assets:bank, assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy, ...
              :bank                assets:bank:savings, expenses:art:banksy
              :bank:               assets:bank:savings
              '^bank'              none of those ( ^ matches beginning of text )
              'bank$'              assets:bank   ( $ matches end of text )
              'big \$ bank'        big $ bank    ( \ disables following character's special meaning )
              '\bbank\b'           assets:bank, assets:bank:savings  ( \b matches word boundaries )
              '(sav|check)ing'     saving or checking  ( (|) matches either alternative )
              'saving|checking'    saving or checking  ( outer parentheses are not needed )
              'savings?'           saving or savings   ( ? matches 0 or 1 of the preceding thing )
              'my +bank'           my bank, my  bank, ... ( + matches 1 or more of the preceding thing )
              'my *bank'           mybank, my bank, my  bank, ... ( * matches 0 or more of the preceding thing )
              'b.nk'               bank, bonk, b nk, ... ( . matches any character )

       Some other queries:

              desc:'amazon|amzn|audible'  Amazon transactions
              cur:EUR              amounts with commodity symbol containing EUR
              cur:'\$'             amounts with commodity symbol containing $
              cur:'^\$$'           only $ amounts, not eg AU$ or CA$
              cur:....?            amounts with 4-or-more-character symbols
              tag:.=202[1-3]       things with any tag whose value contains 2021, 2022 or 2023

       Account name aliases: accept . instead of : as account separator:

              alias /\./=:         replaces all periods in account names with colons

       Show multiple top-level accounts combined as one:

              --alias='/^[^:]+/=combined'  ( [^:] matches any character other than : )

       Show accounts with the second-level part removed:

              --alias '/^([^:]+):[^:]+/ = \1'
                                   match a top-level account and a second-level account
                                   and replace those with just the top-level account
                                   ( \1 in the replacement text means "whatever was matched
                                   by the first parenthesised part of the regexp"

       CSV rules: match CSV records containing dining-related MCC codes:

              if \?MCC581[124]

       Match CSV records with a specific amount around the end/start of month:

              if %amount \b3\.99
              &  %date   (29|30|31|01|02|03)$

   hledger's regular expressions
       hledger's  regular  expressions  come  from the regex-tdfa library.  If
       they're not doing what you expect, it's important to know exactly  what
       they 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 re-
          placement 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 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:

       o In the alias directive and --alias option, regular  expressions  must
         be  enclosed  in  forward  slashes  (/REGEX/).  Elsewhere in hledger,
         these are not required.

       o In queries, to match a regular expression metacharacter like $  as  a
         literal  character,  prepend  a  backslash.  Eg to search for amounts
         with the dollar sign in hledger-web, write cur:\$.

       o On the command line, some metacharacters like $ have a special  mean-
         ing to the shell and so must be escaped at least once more.  See Spe-
         cial characters.

   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,

       o Each line can contain one argument, flag, or option.

       o Blank lines or lines beginning with # are ignored.

       o An option's flag and value should be joined by =.

       o An  option value or an argument may contain spaces.  Don't use single
         or double quotes.

       o And generally, use one less level of  quoting/escaping  than  at  the
         command line.  Eg cur:\$, not cur:\\$ as on the command line.

       For example:

              # cash.args

              assets:cash
              assets:charles schwab:sweep
              cur:\$
              -c=$1.

              $ hledger bal @cash.args

   Config files
       With  hledger  1.40+, you can save extra command line options and argu-
       ments in a more featureful hledger config file.  Here's a  small  exam-
       ple:

              # 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  over-
       ride 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     (~/.con-
       fig/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  (over-
       riding 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 com-
       mand line.  This is useful when using hledger in scripts, or when trou-
       bleshooting.   When  both  --conf  and  --no-conf options are used, the
       right-most wins.

       To inspect the processing of config files, use  --debug  or  --debug=8.
       Or,  run the setup command, which will display any active config files.
       (setup is not affected by config files itself, unlike other commands.)

       Warning!

       There aren't many hledger features that need a  warning,  but  this  is
       one!

       Automatic  config  files, while convenient, also make hledger less pre-
       dictable and dependable.  It's easy to make a config file that  changes
       a  report's  behaviour,  or  breaks your hledger-using scripts/applica-
       tions, 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  con-
          sider the effect on all your reports.

       4. To  troubleshoot  the  effect  of  config files, run with --debug or
          --debug 8.

       The config file feature was added in hledger 1.40.

   Shell completions
       If you use the bash or zsh shells,  you  can  optionally  set  up  con-
       text-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.

Output
   Output destination
       hledger commands send their output to the terminal by default.  You can
       of course redirect this, eg into a file, using standard shell syntax:

              $ hledger print > foo.txt

       Some  commands (print, register, stats, the balance commands) also pro-
       vide the -o/--output-file option, which does  the  same  thing  without
       needing the shell.  Eg:

              $ hledger print -o foo.txt
              $ hledger print -o -        # write to stdout (the default)

   Output format
       Some  commands offer other kinds of output, not just text on the termi-
       nal.  Here are those commands and the formats currently supported:

       command                 txt     html     csv/tsv     fods     beancount      sql     json
       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       aregister               Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       balance                 Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       balancesheet            Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       balancesheetequity      Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       cashflow                Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       incomestatement         Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y
       print                   Y       Y        Y           Y        Y              Y       Y
       register                Y       Y        Y           Y                               Y

       You can also see which output formats a  command  supports  by  running
       hledger CMD -h and looking for the -O/--output-format=FMT option,

       You can select the output format by using that option:

              $ hledger print -O csv    # print CSV to standard output

       or  by  choosing  a  suitable  filename  extension  with  the -o/--out-
       put-file=FILE.FMT option:

              $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.csv    # write CSV to foo.csv

       The -O option can be combined with -o to override the file extension if
       needed:

              $ hledger balancesheet -o foo.txt -O csv    # write CSV to foo.txt

       Here are some notes about the various output formats.

   Text output
       This is the default: human readable, plain text report output, suitable
       for viewing with a monospace font in a terminal.  If your data contains
       unicode or wide characters, you'll need a terminal and font that render
       those 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  what-
       ever 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.

   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.

   Colour
       hledger tries to automatically detect ANSI colour and text styling sup-
       port  and use it when appropriate.  (Currently, it is used rather mini-
       mally: 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.

   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  con-
       fig 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 automatically appends a number
       of  options  to the LESS variable to enable ANSI colour and a number of
       other  conveniences.   (At  the  time  of  writing:   --chop-long-lines
       --hilite-unread       --ignore-case       --no-init       --quit-at-eof
       --quit-if-one-screen           --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS            --shift=8
       --squeeze-blank-lines --use-backslash ).  If these don't work well, you
       can set your preferred options in the HLEDGER_LESS variable, which will
       be used instead.

   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).

   CSV / TSV output
       In CSV or TSV output, digit group marks (such as thousands  separators)
       are disabled automatically.

   FODS output
       FODS  is  the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format as plain XML, as accepted
       by LibreOffice and OpenOffice.  If you use their  spreadsheet  applica-
       tions, 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 ac-
       cessible for computation), styles (bold), borders.  Btw.  you can still
       extract  CSV  from  FODS/ODS  using  various utilities like libreoffice
       --headless or ods2csv.

   Beancount output
       This is Beancount's journal format.  You can use this  to  export  your
       hledger data to Beancount, eg to use the Fava web app.

       hledger  will try to adjust your data to suit Beancount, automatically.
       Be cautious and check the conversion until  you  are  confident  it  is
       good.  If you plan to export to Beancount often, you may want to follow
       its conventions, for a cleaner conversion:

       o use Beancount-friendly account names

       o use currency codes instead of currency symbols

       o use cost notation instead of equity conversion postings

       o 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,  In-
       come, and/or Expenses.  You can use account aliases to rewrite your ac-
       count  names  temporarily, if needed, as in this hledger2beancount.conf
       config file.

       2024-12-20: Some more things not yet handled for you:

       o P directives are not converted automatically -  convert  those  your-
         self.

       o Balance  assignments  are  not  converted  (Beancount doesn't support
         them) - replace those with explicit amounts.

   Beancount account names
       Aside from the top-level names, hledger will adjust your account  names
       to  make  valid Beancount account names, by capitalising each part, re-
       placing spaces with -,  replacing  other  unsupported  characters  with
       C<HEXBYTES>,  prepending A to account name parts which don't begin with
       a letter or digit, and appending :A to account names  which  have  only
       one part.

   Beancount commodity names
       hledger  will  adjust your commodity names to make valid Beancount com-
       modity/currency names, which must be 2-24 uppercase letters, digits, or
       ', ., _, -, beginning with a letter and ending with a letter or  digit.
       hledger will convert known currency symbols to ISO 4217 currency codes,
       capitalise  letters,  replace  spaces with -, replace other unsupported
       characters with C<HEXBYTES>, and prepend or append C if needed.

   Beancount virtual postings
       Beancount doesn't allow virtual postings; if you have any, they will be
       omitted from beancount output.

   Beancount metadata
       hledger tags will be converted to Beancount metadata (except  for  tags
       whose name begins with _).  Metadata names will be adjusted to be Bean-
       count-compatible: beginning with a lowercase letter, at least two char-
       acters  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  val-
       ues.   Eg  an  assets:cash  account  might  have  both  type:Asset  and
       type:Cash tags.  For Beancount these will be combined  into  one,  with
       the values combined, comma separated.  Eg: type: "Asset, Cash".

   Beancount costs
       Beancount  doesn't  allow  redundant  costs  and conversion postings as
       hledger does.  If you have any of these, the conversion  postings  will
       be  omitted.   Currently we support at most one cost + conversion post-
       ings group per transaction.

   Beancount operating currency
       Declaring an operating currency (or  several)  improves  Beancount  and
       Fava  reports.   Currently  hledger  will declare each currency used in
       cost amounts as an operating currency.  If needed, replace  these  with
       your own declaration, like

              option "operating_currency" "USD"

   SQL output
       SQL  output  is  expected to work at least with SQLite, MySQL and Post-
       gres.

       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.

   JSON output
       Our JSON is rather large and verbose, since it is a faithful  represen-
       tation  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/mas-
       ter/hledger-lib/Hledger/Data/Types.hs.   hledger-web's OpenAPI specifi-
       cation 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.

   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 (ex-
       cept for cost amounts and amounts displayed by the print command, which
       are always displayed with all decimal digits).  For example,  the  fol-
       lowing 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 com-
       modities/currencies.  Its argument is as described in the commodity di-
       rective.  Note that omitting the commodity symbol will set the  display
       style for just the no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.

       In  some  cases  hledger will adjust number formatting to improve their
       parseability (such as adding trailing decimal marks when needed).

   Debug output
       We intend hledger to be relatively easy to troubleshoot, introspect and
       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  re-
       veal  when parts of the code are evaluated.  To capture debug output in
       a log file instead, you can usually redirect stderr, eg:

              hledger bal --debug=3 2>hledger.log

       (This option doesn't work in a config file yet.)

Environment
       These environment variables affect hledger:

       HLEDGER_LESS If less is your pager, this variable  specifies  the  less
       options  hledger  should  use.   (Otherwise,  LESS + custom options are
       used.)

       LEDGER_FILE The default journal file, to be used when no -f/--file  op-
       tion  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  de-
       tected, ./.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, un-
       less overridden by an explicit --color=y or --colour=y option.

PART 2: DATA FORMATS
Journal
       hledger's usual data source is a plain text file containing journal en-
       tries in hledger journal format.  If you're looking for a quick  refer-
       ence,  jump  ahead  to the journal cheatsheet (or use the table of con-
       tents 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 jour-
       nal file contains a number of transaction entries,  each  describing  a
       transfer  of  money  (or  any  commodity) between two or more named ac-
       counts, 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 in-
       compatible 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.

   Journal cheatsheet
              # Here is the main syntax of hledger's journal format
              # (omitting extra Ledger compatibility syntax).

              ###############################################################################

              # 1. These are comment lines, for notes or temporarily disabling things.
              ; They begin with # or ;

              comment
              Or, lines can be enclosed within "comment" / "end comment".
              This is a block of
              commented lines.
              end comment

              # Some journal entries can have semicolon comments at end of line  ; like this
              # Some of them require 2 or more spaces before the semicolon.

              ###############################################################################

              # 2. Directives customise processing or output in some way.
              # You don't need any directives to get started.
              # But they can add more error checking, or change how things are displayed.
              # They begin with a word, letter, or symbol.
              # They are most often placed at the top, before transactions.

              account assets             ; Declare valid account names and display order.
              account assets:savings     ; A subaccount. This one represents a bank account.
              account assets:checking    ; Another. Note, 2+ spaces after the account name.
              account assets:receivable  ; Accounting type is inferred from english names,
              account passifs            ; or declared with a "type" tag, type:L
              account expenses           ; type:X
                                         ; A follow-on comment line, indented.
              account expenses:rent      ; Expense and revenue categories are also accounts.
                                         ; Subaccounts inherit their parent's type.

              commodity $0.00         ; Declare valid commodities and their display styles.
              commodity 1.000,00 EUR

              decimal-mark .          ; The decimal mark used in this file (if ambiguous).

              payee Whole Foods       ; Declare a valid payee name.

              tag trip                ; Declare a valid tag name.

              P 2024-03-01 AAPL $179  ; Declare a market price for AAPL in $ on this date.

              include other.journal   ; Include another journal file here.

              # Declare a recurring "periodic transaction", for budget/forecast reports
              ~ monthly  set budget goals  ; <- Note, 2+ spaces before the description.
                  (expenses:rent)      $1000
                  (expenses:food)       $500

              # Declare an auto posting rule, to modify existing transactions in reports
              = revenues:consulting
                  liabilities:tax:2024:us          *0.25  ; Add a tax liability & expense
                  expenses:tax:2024:us            *-0.25  ; for 25% of the revenue.

              ###############################################################################

              # 3. Transactions are what it's all about.
              # They are dated events, usually movements of money between 2 or more accounts.
              # They begin with a numeric date.
              # Here is their basic shape:
              #
              # DATE DESCRIPTION    ; The transaction's date and optional description.
              #   ACCOUNT1  AMOUNT  ; A posting of an amount to/from this account, indented.
              #   ACCOUNT2  AMOUNT  ; A second posting, balancing the first.
              #   ...               ; More if needed. Amounts must sum to zero.
              #                     ; Note, 2+ spaces between account names and amounts.

              2024-01-01 opening balances         ; At the start, declare pre-existing balances this way.
                  assets:savings          $10000  ; Account names can be anything. lower case is easy to type.
                  assets:checking          $1000  ; assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses are common.
                  liabilities:credit card  $-500  ; liabilities, equity, revenues balances are usually negative.
                  equity:start                    ; One amount can be left blank. $-10500 is inferred here.
                                                  ; Some of these accounts we didn't declare above,
                                                  ; so -s/--strict would complain.

              2024-01-03 ! (12345) pay rent
                  ; Additional transaction comment lines, indented.
                  ; There can be a ! or * after the date meaning "pending" or "cleared".
                  ; There can be a parenthesised (code) after the date/status.
                                                  ; Amounts' sign shows direction of flow.
                  assets:checking          $-500  ; Minus means removed from this account (credit).
                  expenses:rent             $500  ; Plus means added to this account (debit).

              ; Keeping transactions in date order is optional (but helps error checking).

              2024-01-02 Gringott's Bank | withdrawal  ; Description can be PAYEE | NOTE
                  assets:bank:gold       -10 gold
                  assets:pouch            10 gold

              2024-01-02 shopping
                  expenses:clothing        1 gold
                  expenses:wands           5 gold
                  assets:pouch            -6 gold

              2024-01-02 receive gift
                  revenues:gifts          -3 "Chocolate Frogs"  ; Complex commodity symbols
                  assets:pouch             3 "Chocolate Frogs"  ; must be in double quotes.

              2024-01-15 buy some shares, in two lots                 ; Cost can be noted.
                  assets:investments:2024-01-15     2.0 AAAA @ $1.50  ; @  means per-unit cost
                  assets:investments:2024-01-15-02  3.0 AAAA @@ $4    ; @@ means total cost
                                    ; ^ Per-lot subaccounts are sometimes useful.
                  assets:checking                 $-7

              2024-01-15 assert some account balances on this date
                  ; Balances can be asserted in any transaction, with =, for extra error checking.
                  ; Assertion txns like this one can be made with hledger close --assert --show-costs
                  ;
                  assets:savings                    $0                   = $10000
                  assets:checking                   $0                   =   $493
                  assets:bank:gold                   0 gold              =    -10 gold
                  assets:pouch                       0 gold              =      4 gold
                  assets:pouch                       0 "Chocolate Frogs" =      3 "Chocolate Frogs"
                  assets:investments:2024-01-15      0.0 AAAA            =      2.0 AAAA @  $1.50
                  assets:investments:2024-01-15-02   0.0 AAAA            =      3.0 AAAA @@ $4
                  liabilities:credit card           $0                   =  $-500

              2024-02-01 note some event, or a transaction not yet fully entered, on this date
                  ; Postings are not required.

              # Consistent YYYY-MM-DD date format is recommended,
              # but you can use . or / and omit leading zeros if you prefer.
              2024.01.01
              2024/1/1

   Comments
       Lines in the journal will be ignored if they begin with a hash (#) or a
       semicolon (;).  (See also Other syntax.)  hledger will also ignore  re-
       gions beginning with a comment line and ending with an end comment line
       (or file end).  Here's a suggestion for choosing between them:

       o # for top-level notes

       o ; for commenting out things temporarily

       o 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 com-
       ments, and Account comments below.

   Transactions
       Transactions are the main unit of information in a journal file.   They
       represent  events, typically a movement of some quantity of commodities
       between two or more named accounts.

       Each transaction is recorded as a journal entry, beginning with a  sim-
       ple date in column 0.  This can be followed by any of the following op-
       tional fields, separated by spaces:

       o a status character (empty, !, or *)

       o a code (any short number or text, enclosed in parentheses)

       o a description (any remaining text until end of line or a semicolon)

       o a  comment  (any  remaining  text  following a semicolon until end of
         line, and any following indented lines beginning with a semicolon)

       o 0 or more indented posting lines, describing what was transferred and
         the accounts involved (indented comment lines are also  allowed,  but
         not blank lines or non-indented lines).

       Here's a simple journal file containing one transaction:

              2008/01/01 income
                assets:bank:checking   $1
                income:salary         $-1

   Dates
   Simple dates
       Dates  in  the  journal  file  use  simple  dates format: YYYY-MM-DD or
       YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY.MM.DD, with leading zeros optional.  The year may be
       omitted, in which case it will be inferred from the context:  the  cur-
       rent  transaction, the default year set with a Y directive, or the cur-
       rent  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.)

   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  de-
       duction from checking should be reported on 6/1 for easy bank reconcil-
       iation:

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

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

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

       DATE  should be a simple date; if the year is not specified it will use
       the year of the transaction's date.
       The date: tag must have a valid simple date value if it is present,  eg
       a date: tag with no value is not allowed.

   Status
       Transactions  (or  individual postings within a transaction) can have a
       status mark, which is a single character  before  the  transaction  de-
       scription  (or posting account name), separated from it by a space, in-
       dicating 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:, sta-
       tus:!, 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 short-
       cuts  for working with status.  Eg in Emacs ledger-mode, you can toggle
       transaction status with C-c C-e, or posting status with C-c C-c.

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

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

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

   Code
       After  the  status mark, but before the description, you can optionally
       write a transaction "code", enclosed in parentheses.  This  is  a  good
       place  to record a check number, or some other important transaction id
       or reference number.

   Description
       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 tradi-
       tional 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 re-
       ports, and can be listed with the descriptions command.

       You can query by description with desc:DESCREGEX, or pivot on  descrip-
       tion with --pivot desc.

   Payee and note
       Sometimes people want a dedicated payee/payer field that can be queried
       and  checked more strictly.  If you want that, you can write a | (pipe)
       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.)

   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

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

       o (optional) a status character (empty, !, or *), followed by a space

       o (required) an account name (any  text,  optionally  including  single
         spaces.   If  anything follows the account name on the same line, the
         account name must be ended by two or more spaces.)

       o (optional) an amount

       o (optional) a same-line posting comment, beginning  with  a  semicolon
         (;).

       If  the  amount is positive, it is being added to the account; if nega-
       tive, 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  bal-
       ancing 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.

   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 neg-
       ative posting amounts represent debits and credits respectively.

       You  don't  need  to  remember  that, but if you would like to - eg for
       helping newcomers or for talking with your accountant - here's a  handy
       mnemonic:

       debit  / plus  / left  / short  words
       credit / minus / right / longer words

   Account names
       Accounts  are  the  main  way of categorising things in hledger.  As in
       Double Entry Bookkeeping, they can represent real world accounts  (such
       as a bank account), or more abstract categories such as "money spent on
       food" or "money borrowed from Frank".

       Account  names  are flexible.  They may be capitalised or not; they may
       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.

   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, includ-
       ing single spaces and semicolons.  Because of this, they must be termi-
       nated  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 some-
       times, but it lets us use expressive account names while still  keeping
       the syntax light.

   Account hierarchy
       For  more  precise  reporting, we usually divide accounts into more de-
       tailed 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  over-
       board,  especially when getting started; simpler categories can be less
       work.

   Other account name features
       Enclosing the account  name  in  parentheses  or  brackets,  like  (ex-
       penses:food), enables a non-standard bookkeeping feature: virtual post-
       ings.

       Account  names can be rewritten and restructured, temporarily or perma-
       nently, by account aliases.

   Amounts
       After the account name, there is usually an amount.  (Remember: between
       account name and amount, there must be two or more spaces.)

       hledger's amount format is flexible, supporting  several  international
       formats.   Here  are  some examples.  Amounts have a number (the "quan-
       tity"):

              1

       ..and usually a currency symbol or commodity name (more on this below),
       to the left or right of the quantity,  with  or  without  a  separating
       space:

              $1
              4000 AAPL
              3 "green apples"

       Amounts can be preceded by a minus sign (or a plus sign, though plus is
       the  default), The sign can be written before or after a left-side com-
       modity symbol:

              -$1
              $-1

       One or more spaces between the sign and the number are acceptable  when
       parsing (but they won't be displayed in output):

              + $1
              $-      1

       Scientific E notation is allowed:

              1E-6
              EUR 1E3

   Decimal marks
       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  explic-
       itly.   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,  de-
       scribed below.

       hledger  also accepts numbers like 10. with no digits after the decimal
       mark (and will sometimes display numbers that way to disambiguate  them
       - see Trailing decimal marks).

   Digit group marks
       In  the integer part of the amount quantity (left of the decimal mark),
       groups of digits can optionally be separated by a digit group mark -  a
       comma  or  period  (whichever  is not used as decimal mark), or a space
       (several Unicode space variants, like  no-break  space,  are  also  ac-
       cepted).   So these are all valid amounts in a journal file:

                   $1,000,000.00
                EUR 2.000.000,00
              INR 9,99,99,999.00
                    1 000 000.00   ; <- ordinary space
                    1 000 000.00   ; <- no-break space

   Commodity
       Amounts  in  hledger  have both a "quantity", which is a signed decimal
       number, and a "commodity", which is a currency symbol, stock ticker, or
       any word or phrase describing something you are tracking.

       If the commodity name contains non-letters (spaces, numbers, or punctu-
       ation), you must always write it inside double quotes ("green  apples",
       "ABC123").

       If  you  write just a bare number, that too will have a commodity, with
       name ""; we call that the "no-symbol commodity".

       Actually, hledger combines these  single-commodity  amounts  into  more
       powerful  multi-commodity amounts, which are what it works with most of
       the time.  A multi-commodity amount could be, eg: 1 USD, 2  EUR,  3.456
       TSLA.   In  practice,  you  will  only  see  multi-commodity amounts in
       hledger's output; you can't write them directly in the journal file.

       By default, the format of amounts in the journal influences how hledger
       displays them in output.  This is explained in Commodity display  style
       below.

   Costs
       After  a posting amount, you can note its cost (when buying) or selling
       price (when selling) in another commodity, by writing  either  @  UNIT-
       PRICE  or @@ TOTALPRICE after it.  This indicates a conversion transac-
       tion, where one commodity is exchanged for another.

       (You might also see this called "transaction price"  in  hledger  docs,
       discussions,  or code; that term was directionally neutral and reminded
       that it is a price specific to a transaction, but we now just  call  it
       "cost", with the understanding that the transaction could be a purchase
       or a sale.)

       Costs  are usually written explicitly with @ or @@, but can also be in-
       ferred automatically for simple multi-commodity transactions.  Note, if
       costs are inferred, the order of postings  is  significant;  the  first
       posting will have a cost attached, in the commodity of the second.

       As  an  example, here are several ways to record purchases of a foreign
       currency in hledger, using the cost notation either explicitly  or  im-
       plicitly:

       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.  Note the
          effect of posting order: the price is added to first posting, making
          it 100 @@ $135, as in example 2:

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

       Amounts  can  be  converted  to cost at report time using the -B/--cost
       flag; this is discussed more in the Cost reporting section.

       Note that the cost normally should be a positive  amount,  though  it's
       not  required to be.  This can be a little confusing, see discussion at
       --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions.

   Balance assertions
       hledger supports Ledger-style  balance  assertions  in  journal  files.
       These  look  like, for example, = EXPECTEDBALANCE following a posting's
       amount.  Eg here we assert the expected dollar balance  in  accounts  a
       and b after each posting:

              2013/1/1
                a   $1 =  $1
                b      = $-1

              2013/1/2
                a   $1 =  $2
                b  $-1 = $-2

       After reading a journal file, hledger will check all balance assertions
       and  report  an error if any of them fail.  Balance assertions can pro-
       tect you from, eg, inadvertently disrupting reconciled  balances  while
       cleaning  up  old  entries.   You can disable them temporarily with the
       -I/--ignore-assertions flag, which can be useful for troubleshooting or
       for reading Ledger files.  (Note: this flag currently does not  disable
       balance assignments, described below).

   Assertions and ordering
       hledger  calculates  and checks an account's balance assertions in date
       order (and when there are multiple assertions on the same day, in parse
       order).  Note this is different from Ledger,  which  checks  assertions
       always in parse order, ignoring dates.

       This means in hledger you can freely reorder transactions, postings, or
       files, and balance assertions will usually keep working.  The exception
       is  when you reorder multiple postings on the same day, to the same ac-
       count, which have balance assertions; those will likely need updating.

   Assertions and multiple files
       If an account has transactions appearing in multiple files, balance as-
       sertions can still work - but only if those files are part of a hierar-
       chy 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  differ-
       ent order.  (Discussion welcome.)

   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).

   Assertions and commodities
       The  balance  assertions described so far are "single commodity balance
       assertions": they assert and check the balance in one commodity, ignor-
       ing 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 bal-
       ances 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

   Assertions and subaccounts
       All of the balance assertions above (both = and ==) are "subaccount-ex-
       clusive  balance  assertions";  they  ignore any balances that exist in
       deeper subaccounts.

       In hledger you can make "subaccount-inclusive  balance  assertions"  by
       adding a star after the equals (=* or ==*):

              2019/1/1
                equity:start
                assets:checking  $10
                assets:savings   $10
                assets            $0 ==* $20  ; assets + subaccounts contains $20 and nothing else

   Assertions and status
       Balance  assertions always consider postings of all statuses (unmarked,
       pending, or cleared); they are not  affected  by  the  -U/--unmarked  /
       -P/--pending / -C/--cleared flags or the status: query.

   Assertions and virtual postings
       Balance assertions always consider both real and virtual postings; they
       are not affected by the --real/-R flag or real: query.

   Assertions and auto postings
       Balance  assertions  are  affected  by the --auto flag, which generates
       auto postings, which can alter account balances.  Because auto postings
       are 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:

       o assert the balance calculated with --auto, and always use --auto with
         that file

       o or assert the balance calculated without --auto, and never use --auto
         with that file

       o or avoid balance assertions on accounts affected by auto postings (or
         avoid auto postings entirely).

   Assertions and precision
       Balance  assertions  compare  the exactly calculated amounts, which are
       not always what is shown by reports.   Eg  a  commodity  directive  may
       limit  the  display  precision, but this will not affect balance asser-
       tions.  Balance assertion failure messages show exact amounts.

   Assertions and hledger add
       Balance assertions can be included in the amounts given  in  add.   All
       types  of  assertions are supported, and assertions can be used as in a
       normal journal file.

       All transactions, not just those that have an explicit  assertion,  are
       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.

   Posting comments
       Text  following  ;,  at  the  end of a posting line, and/or on indented
       lines immediately below it, form comments for that posting.   They  are
       reproduced  by  print  but  otherwise  ignored, except they may contain
       tags, which are not ignored.

              2012-01-01
                  expenses   1  ; a comment for posting 1
                  assets
                  ; a comment for posting 2
                  ; a second comment line for posting 2

   Transaction balancing
       How exactly does hledger decide when a transaction is balanced ?  Espe-
       cially when it involves costs, which often are not  exact,  because  of
       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 bal-
       ancing precision.

       Since version 1.50, hledger infers balancing precision in each transac-
       tion  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:

       o You  can  restore the old behaviour, by adding --txn-balancing=old to
         the command or to your ~/.hledger.conf file.  This lets you keep  us-
         ing old journals unchanged, though without the above benefits.

       o 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.)

   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  re-
       ports.  (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 com-
       mas.:

              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

   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 transac-
          tion.

       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:check-                    no tags attached
       ing account
       expenses:food   atag             atag: in comment
       account
       assets:check-   p1tag, ttag      p1tag:  in  comment,  ttag  acquired   from
       ing posting                      transaction
       expenses:food   p2tag,   atag,   p2tag: in comment, atag from account,  ttag
       posting         ttag             from transaction
       groceries       ttag,   p1tag,   ttag: in comment, p1tag from first posting,
       transaction     p2tag, atag      p2tag and atag from second posting

   Displaying tags
       You can use the tags command to list tag names or values.

       The print command also shows tags.

       You can use --pivot to display tag values in other reports, in  various
       ways (eg appended to account names, like pseudo subaccounts).

   When to use tags ?
       Tags  provide more dimensions of categorisation, complementing accounts
       and transaction descriptions.  When to use each of these is somewhat  a
       matter  of  taste.   Accounts have the most built-in support, and regex
       queries on descriptions are also quite powerful.  So you may  not  need
       tags  at  all.   But  if you want to track multiple cross-cutting cate-
       gories, they can be a good fit.  For example, you  could  tag  trip-re-
       lated transactions with trip: YEAR:PLACE, without disturbing your usual
       account categories.

   Tag names
       What  is allowed in a tag name ?  Most non-whitespace characters.  Eg :
       is a valid tag.

       For extra error checking, you can declare valid tag names with the  tag
       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 hid-
       den, with a _ prefix added.  This means print doesn't show them by  de-
       fault;  but  you can still use them in queries.  You can add the --ver-
       bose-tags flag to make them visible, which  can  be  useful  for  trou-
       bleshooting.

   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 spe-
       cific 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 di-
       rectives:

       purpose                                    directive
       --------------------------------------------------------------------------
       READING DATA:
       Rewrite account names                      alias
       Comment out sections of the file           comment
       Declare file's  decimal  mark,  to  help   decimal-mark
       parse amounts accurately
       Include other data files                   include
       GENERATING DATA:
       Generate  recurring transactions or bud-   ~
       get goals
       Generate  extra  postings  on   existing   =
       transactions
       CHECKING FOR ERRORS:
       Define  valid  entities  to provide more   account, commodity, payee, tag
       error checking
       REPORTING:
       Declare accounts' type and display order   account
       Declare commodity display styles           commodity
       Declare market prices                      P

   Directives and multiple files
       Directives vary in their scope, ie which journal entries and which  in-
       put files they affect.  Most often, a directive will affect the follow-
       ing  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 di-
       rectives in your files.

   Directive effects
       Here are all hledger's directives, with their effects  and  scope  sum-
       marised  -  nine  main  directives,  plus four others which we consider
       non-essential:

       di-        what it does                                                       ends
       rec-                                                                          at
       tive                                                                          file
                                                                                     end?
       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       ac-        Declares an account, for checking all entries in all files;  and   N
       count      its display order and type.  Subdirectives: any text, ignored.
       alias      Rewrites  account  names, in following entries until end of cur-   Y
                  rent file or end aliases.  Command line equivalent: --alias
       com-       Ignores part of the journal file, until end of current  file  or   Y
       ment       end comment.
       com-       Declares up to four things: 1.  a commodity symbol, for checking   N,N,Y,Y
       mod-       all  amounts  in all files 2.  the display style for all amounts
       ity        of this commodity 3.  the decimal mark for  parsing  amounts  of
                  this  commodity,  in  the rest of this file and its children, if
                  there is no decimal-mark directive 4.  the precision to use  for
                  balanced-transaction  checking  in  this commodity, in this file
                  and its children.   Takes  precedence  over  D.   Subdirectives:
                  format (ignored).  Command line equivalent: -c/--commodity-style
       deci-      Declares  the  decimal mark, for parsing amounts of all commodi-   Y
       mal-mark   ties in following entries until next decimal-mark or end of cur-
                  rent file.  Included files can override.  Takes precedence  over
                  commodity and D.
       include    Includes  entries  and  directives from another file, as if they   N
                  were  written  inline.   Command  line   alternative:   multiple
                  -f/--file
       payee      Declares a payee name, for checking all entries in all files.      N
       P          Declares the market price of a commodity on some date, for value   N
                  reports.
       ~          Declares  a  periodic  transaction  rule  that  generates future   N
       (tilde)    transactions with  --forecast  and  budget  goals  with  balance
                  --budget.
       Other
       syntax:
       apply      Prepends  a  common parent account to all account names, in fol-   Y
       account    lowing entries until end of current file or end apply account.
       D          Sets a default commodity to use for  no-symbol  amounts;and,  if   Y,Y,N,N
                  there  is no commodity directive for this commodity: its decimal
                  mark, balancing precision, and display style, as above.
       Y          Sets a default year to use for any yearless dates, in  following   Y
                  entries until end of current file.
       =          Declares  an  auto posting rule that generates extra postings on   partly
       (equals)   matched transactions with --auto, in current, parent, and  child
                  files (but not sibling files, see #1212).
       Other      Other  directives from Ledger's file format are accepted but ig-
       Ledger     nored.
       direc-
       tives

   account directive
       account directives can be used to declare accounts (ie, the places that
       amounts are transferred from and to).  Though not required, these  dec-
       larations can provide several benefits:

       o They can document your intended chart of accounts, providing a refer-
         ence.

       o They can store additional account information as comments, or as tags
         which can be used to filter or pivot reports.

       o They can restrict which accounts may be posted to by transactions, eg
         in strict mode, which helps prevent errors.

       o They  influence account display order in reports, allowing non-alpha-
         betic sorting (eg Revenues to appear above Expenses).

       o They can help hledger know your accounts'  types  (asset,  liability,
         equity, revenue, expense), enabling reports like balancesheet and in-
         comestatement.

       o 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  ac-
       count name.  Eg:

              account assets:bank:checking

       Ledger-style indented subdirectives are also accepted, but ignored:

              account assets:bank:checking
                format subdirective  ; currently ignored

   Account comments
       Text following two or more spaces and ; at the end of an account direc-
       tive  line,  and/or following ; on indented lines immediately below it,
       form comments for that account.  They are ignored except they may  con-
       tain tags, which are not ignored.

       The  two-space  requirement for same-line account comments is because ;
       is allowed in account names.

              account assets:bank:checking    ; same-line comment, at least 2 spaces before the semicolon
                ; next-line comment
                ; some tags - type:A, acctnum:12345

   Account 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  jour-
       nal.  Usually you'll find that error later, as an extra account in bal-
       ance 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  direc-
       tive.  Some notes:

       o The  declaration is case-sensitive; transactions must use the correct
         account name capitalisation.

       o The account directive's scope is "whole file and below"  (see  direc-
         tives).  This means it affects all of the current file, and any files
         it  includes,  but  not parent or sibling files.  The position of ac-
         count directives within the file does not matter, though  it's  usual
         to put them at the top.

       o Accounts  can  only be declared in journal files, but will affect in-
         cluded files of all types.

       o It's currently not possible to  declare  "all  possible  subaccounts"
         with a wildcard; every account posted to must be declared.

       o If  you  use the --infer-equity flag, you will also need declarations
         for the account names it generates.

   Account display order
       Account directives also cause hledger to display accounts in a particu-
       lar order, not just alphabetically.  Eg, here is a conventional  order-
       ing 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 al-
       phabetical order.

       Sorting is done within each group of sibling accounts, at each level of
       the account tree.  Eg, a declaration like account  parent:child  influ-
       ences child's position among its siblings.

       Note,  it  does not affect parent's position; for that, you need an ac-
       count 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 tar-
       get, and declares its display order; you can't easily  do  one  without
       the other.

   Account types
       hledger knows that in accounting there are three main account types:

       Asset       A   things you own
       Liability   L   things you owe
       Equity      E   owner's investment,
                       balances   the  two
                       above

       and two more representing changes in these:

       Revenue   R   inflows (also known
                     as Income)
       Expense   X   outflows

       hledger also uses a couple of subtypes:

       Cash         C   liquid assets
       Conversion   V   commodity   conver-
                        sions equity

       As  a  convenience,  hledger will detect 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

       This  enables  the  easy balancesheet, balancesheetequity, cashflow and
       incomestatement reports, and querying by type:.

       Tips:

       o You can list accounts and their types, for troubleshooting:

                $ hledger accounts --types [ACCTPAT] [type:TYPECODES] [-DEPTH] [--locations]

       o It's a good idea to declare at least one  account  for  each  account
         type.   Having some types declared and some inferred can disrupt cer-
         tain reports.

       o The rules for inferring types from account names are as follows  (us-
         ing 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

       o 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.

       o Account aliases can disrupt account types.

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

       o expanding shorthand account names to their full form, allowing easier
         data entry and a less verbose journal

       o adapting old journals to your current chart of accounts

       o experimenting with new account organisations, like a new hierarchy

       o combining two accounts into one, eg to see their sum or difference on
         one line

       o customising reports

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

       Account aliases are very powerful.  They are generally easy to use cor-
       rectly, but you can also generate invalid account names with them; more
       on this below.

       See also Rewrite account names.

   Basic aliases
       To  set an account alias, use the alias directive in your journal file.
       This affects all subsequent journal entries in the current file or  its
       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  re-
       place  any occurrence of the old account name with the new one.  Subac-
       counts are also affected.  Eg:

              alias checking = assets:bank:wells fargo:checking
              ; rewrites "checking" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking", or "checking:a" to "assets:bank:wells fargo:checking:a"

   Regex aliases
       There is also a more powerful variant that uses a  regular  expression,
       indicated  by  wrapping  the  pattern in forward slashes.  (This is the
       only place where hledger requires forward slashes around a regular  ex-
       pression.)

       Eg:

              alias /REGEX/ = REPLACEMENT

       or:

              $ hledger --alias '/REGEX/=REPLACEMENT' ...

       Any  part  of  an account name matched by REGEX will be replaced by RE-
       PLACEMENT.  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.

   Combining aliases
       You can define as many aliases as you like,  using  journal  directives
       and/or command line options.

       Recursive  aliases  -  where an account name is rewritten by one alias,
       then by another alias, and so on - are allowed.  Each  alias  sees  the
       effect of previously applied aliases.

       In  such  cases it can be important to understand which aliases will be
       applied and in which order.  For (each account name  in)  each  journal
       entry, we apply:

       1. alias  directives  preceding the journal entry, most recently parsed
          first (ie, reading upward from the journal entry, bottom to top)

       2. --alias options, in the order they  appeared  on  the  command  line
          (left to right).

       In other words, for (an account name in) a given journal entry:

       o the nearest alias declaration before/above the entry is applied first

       o the next alias before/above that will be be applied next, and so on

       o aliases defined after/below the entry do not affect it.

       This  gives nearby aliases precedence over distant ones, and helps pro-
       vide semantic stability - aliases will keep working the same way  inde-
       pendent of which files are being read and in which order.

       In  case  of  trouble,  adding  --debug=6 to the command line will show
       which aliases are being applied when.

   Aliases and multiple files
       As explained at Directives and multiple files, alias directives do  not
       affect parent or sibling files.  Eg in this command,

              hledger -f a.aliases -f b.journal

       account  aliases  defined  in a.aliases will not affect b.journal.  In-
       cluding the aliases doesn't work either:

              include a.aliases

              2023-01-01  ; not affected by a.aliases
                foo  1
                bar

       This means that account aliases should usually be declared at the start
       of your top-most file, like this:

              alias foo=Foo
              alias bar=Bar

              2023-01-01  ; affected by aliases above
                foo  1
                bar

              include c.journal  ; also affected

   end aliases directive
       You can clear (forget) all currently defined aliases (seen in the jour-
       nal so far, or defined on the command line) with this directive:

              end aliases

   Aliases can generate bad account names
       Be aware that account aliases  can  produce  malformed  account  names,
       which could cause confusing reports or invalid print output.  For exam-
       ple, 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

   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 ef-
       fect.

       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, renam-
       ing 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

   commodity directive
       The commodity directive performs several functions:

       1. It declares which commodity symbols may be used in the journal,  en-
          abling  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  com-
          modity, 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  pre-
       cise.

       Omitting  the  commodity symbol will set the display style for just the
       no-symbol commodity, not all commodities.

       Commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style  command
       line option.

       (Related: #793)

   Commodity directive syntax
       A commodity directive is normally the word commodity followed by a sam-
       ple  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

       Commodities do not have tags (tags in the comment will be ignored).

       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 subdi-
       rective,  as in Ledger.  The symbol is repeated and must be the same in
       both places.  Other subdirectives are currently ignored:

              ; display indian rupees with currency name on the left,
              ; thousands, lakhs and crores comma-separated,
              ; period as decimal point, and two decimal places.
              commodity INR
                format INR 1,00,00,000.00
                an unsupported subdirective  ; ignored by hledger

   Commodity error checking
       In strict mode (-s/--strict) (or when you run  hledger  check  commodi-
       ties),  hledger  will report an error if an undeclared commodity symbol
       is used.  (With one exception: zero amounts are always allowed to  have
       no  commodity symbol.)  It works like account error checking (described
       above).

   decimal-mark directive
       You can use a decimal-mark directive - usually one per file, at the top
       of the file - to declare which character represents a decimal mark when
       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).

   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  for-
       mats): 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  subdirecto-
       ries  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

       o include *.journal to include all other journal files in  the  current
         directory (excluding dot files)

       o include  **.journal to include all other journal files in this direc-
         tory and below (excluding dot files and top-level dot directories)

       o 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 er-
       ror  that's hard to pinpoint: a good troubleshooting command is hledger
       files --debug=6 (or 7).

   P directive
       The P directive declares a market price, which is a conversion rate be-
       tween 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, the or 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.  Ex-
       amples:

              # 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.

   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.

   tag directive
       tag TAGNAME

       This  directive  can  be used to declare a limited set of tag names al-
       lowed in tags.  TAGNAME should be a valid tag name (no spaces).  Eg:

              tag  item-id

       Any indented subdirectives are currently ignored.

       The "tags" check will report an error if any  undeclared  tag  name  is
       used.  It is quite easy to accidentally create a tag through normal use
       of colons in comments; if you want to prevent this, you can declare and
       check your tags .

   Periodic transactions
       The  ~  directive  declares a "periodic rule" which generates temporary
       extra transactions, usually recurring at some interval, when hledger is
       run with the --forecast flag.  These "forecast transactions" are useful
       for 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-fore-
          casted transaction's date.

       4. Forecasted  transactions  will  end 6 months from today, by default.
          See below for the exact start/end rules.

       5. period expressions can be tricky.   Their  documentation  needs  im-
          provement, 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.

   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-pe-
       riod reports, just interpreted differently; there, it specifies  report
       periods; here it specifies recurrence dates (the periods' start dates).

   Periodic rules and relative dates
       Partial  or  relative  dates (like 12/31, 25, tomorrow, last week, next
       quarter) are usually not recommended in periodic rules, since  the  re-
       sults  will  change  as time passes.  If used, they will be interpreted
       relative to, in order of preference:

       1. the first day of the default year specified by a recent Y directive

       2. or the date specified with --today

       3. or the date on which you are running the report.

       They will not be affected at all by report period  or  forecast  period
       dates.

   Two spaces between period expression and description!
       If  the  period  expression  is  followed by a transaction description,
       these must be separated by two or more spaces.  This helps hledger know
       where the period expression ends, so that descriptions can not acciden-
       tally alter their meaning, as in this example:

              ; 2 or more spaces needed here, so the period is not understood as "every 2 months in 2023"
              ;               ||
              ;               vv
              ~ every 2 months  in 2023, we will review
                  assets:bank:checking   $1500
                  income:acme inc

       So,

       o Do write two spaces between your period expression and your  transac-
         tion description, if any.

       o Don't  accidentally write two spaces in the middle of your period ex-
         pression.

   Auto postings
       The = directive declares an "auto posting rule", which adds extra post-
       ings 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  post-
       ings are added to that transaction, immediately below the matched post-
       ing.   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 ex-
       panded 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:

       o a  number  with  no  commodity symbol, like 2.  The matched posting's
         commodity symbol will be added to this.

       o a normal amount with a commodity symbol, like $2.  This will be  used
         as-is.

       o an  asterisk  followed  by a number, like *2.  This will multiply the
         matched posting's amount (and total price, if any) by the number.

       o 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 draw-
       backs - it's less portable, less future-proof, less auditable  by  oth-
       ers, and less robust (eg your balance assertions will depend on whether
       you  use  or don't use --auto).  An alternative is to use auto postings
       in "one time" fashion - use them to help build a complex journal entry,
       view it with hledger print --auto, and then copy that output  into  the
       journal file to make it permanent.

   Auto postings and multiple files
       An auto posting rule can affect any transaction in the current file, or
       in  any  parent file or child file.  Note, currently it will not affect
       sibling files (when multiple -f/--file are used - see #1212).

   Auto postings and dates
       A posting date (or secondary date) in the matched posting,  or  (taking
       precedence)  a  posting date in the auto posting rule itself, will also
       be used in the generated posting.

   Auto postings and transaction balancing / inferred amounts / balance asser-
       tions
       Currently, auto postings are added:

       o after missing amounts are inferred, and transactions are checked  for
         balancedness,

       o but before balance assertions are checked.

       Note  this  means that journal entries must be balanced both before and
       after auto postings are added.  This changed in hledger 1.12+; see #893
       for background.

       This also means that you cannot have more than one auto-posting with  a
       missing  amount applied to a given transaction, as it will be unable to
       infer amounts.

   Auto posting tags
       Automated postings will have some extra tags:

       o generated-posting:= QUERY - shows this was generated by an auto post-
         ing rule, and the query

       o _generated-posting:= QUERY - a hidden tag, which does not  appear  in
         hledger's output.  This can be used to match postings generated "just
         now", rather than generated in the past and saved to the journal.

       Also,  any transaction that has been changed by auto posting rules will
       have these tags added:

       o modified: - this transaction was modified

       o _modified: - a hidden tag not appearing in the comment; this transac-
         tion was modified "just now".

   Auto postings on forecast transactions only
       Tip: you can can make auto postings that will apply to forecast  trans-
       actions  but not recorded transactions, by adding tag:_generated-trans-
       action to their QUERY.  This can be useful when generating new  journal
       entries to be saved in the journal.

   Other syntax
       hledger  journal  format supports quite a few other features, mainly to
       make interoperating with or converting from Ledger easier.   Note  some
       of  the features below are powerful and can be useful in special cases,
       but in 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.

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

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

       or when adjusting a balance to reality:

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

       The calculated amount depends on the account's balance in the commodity
       at that point (which depends on the previously-dated  postings  of  the
       commodity  to  that account since the last balance assertion or assign-
       ment).

       Downsides: using balance assignments makes your journal less  explicit;
       to know the exact amount posted, you have to run hledger or do the cal-
       culations  yourself,  instead of just reading it.  Also balance assign-
       ments' forcing of balances can hide errors.  These things make your fi-
       nancial data less portable, less future-proof, and less trustworthy  in
       an audit.

   Balance assignments and costs
       A cost in a balance assignment will cause the calculated amount to have
       that cost attached:

              2019/1/1
                (a)             = $1 @ 2

              $ hledger print --explicit
              2019-01-01
                  (a)         $1 @ 2 = $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.

   Bracketed posting dates
       For  setting posting dates and secondary posting dates, Ledger's brack-
       eted 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 syn-
       tax, DATE infers its year from the transaction  and  DATE2  infers  its
       year from DATE.

       Downsides:   another   syntax   to   learn,  redundant  with  hledger's
       date:/date2: tags, and confusingly similar to Ledger's lot date syntax.

   D directive
       D AMOUNT

       This directive sets a default commodity, to be used for any  subsequent
       commodityless  amounts (ie, plain numbers) seen while parsing the jour-
       nal.  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 di-
       rective (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 deci-
       mal 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 di-
       rective 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 usu-
       ally an unsustainable shortcut; sooner or later you will want to  track
       multiple  commodities.   D  is overloaded with functions redundant with
       commodity and decimal-mark.  And it works differently from Ledger's D.

   apply account directive
       This directive sets a default parent account, which will  be  prepended
       to all accounts in following entries, until an end apply account direc-
       tive or end of current file.  Eg:

              apply account home

              2010/1/1
                  food    $10
                  cash

              end apply account

       is equivalent to:

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

       account directives are also affected, and so is any included content.

       Account names entered via hledger add or hledger-web are not affected.

       Account  aliases,  if  any,  are  applied  after  the parent account is
       prepended.

       Downsides: this can  make  your  financial  data  less  explicit,  less
       portable, and less trustworthy in an audit.

   Y directive
       Y YEAR

       or (deprecated backward-compatible forms):

       year YEAR apply year YEAR

       The  space is optional.  This sets a default year to be used for subse-
       quent 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 trust-
       worthy in an audit.  Such dates can get  separated  from  their  corre-
       sponding  Y  directive,  eg  when evaluating a region of the journal in
       your editor.  A missing Y directive makes reports dependent on  today's
       date.

   Secondary dates
       A secondary date is written after the primary date, following an equals
       sign:  DATE1=DATE2.  If the year is omitted, the primary date's year is
       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  in-
       stead.

       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:

       o You  have  to  remember the primary and secondary dates' meaning, and
         follow that consistently.

       o It splits your bookkeeping into two modes, and you have  to  remember
         which mode is appropriate for a given report.

       o Usually  your  balance  assertions  will  work with only one of these
         modes.

       o It makes your financial data more  complicated,  less  portable,  and
         less clear in an audit.

       o It  interacts with every feature, creating an ongoing cost for imple-
         mentors.

       o It distracts new users and supporters.

       o 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  in-
       stead.

   Star comments
       Lines  beginning  with  * (star/asterisk) are also comment lines.  This
       feature allows Emacs users to insert org headings in their journal, al-
       lowing 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.

   Valuation expressions
       Ledger allows a valuation function or value to  be  written  in  double
       parentheses after an amount.  hledger ignores these.

   Virtual postings
       A posting with parentheses around the account name, like (some:account)
       10,  is  called  an  unbalanced virtual posting.  These postings do not
       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 sepa-
       rately from them.  These are not part of double entry  bookkeeping  ei-
       ther, 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.

   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.

   Other cost/lot notations
       A slight digression for Ledger and Beancount users.

       Ledger has a number of cost/lot-related notations:

       o @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST

         o expresses a conversion rate, as in hledger

         o when  buying,  also  creates  a lot that can be selected at selling
           time

       o (@) UNITCOST and (@@) TOTALCOST (virtual cost)

         o like the above, but also means "this cost  was  exceptional,  don't
           use it when inferring market prices".

       o {=UNITCOST} and {{=TOTALCOST}} (fixed price)

         o when buying, means "this cost is also the fixed value, don't let it
           fluctuate in value reports"

       o {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}} (lot price)

         o can  be  used identically to @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST, also cre-
           ates a lot

         o when selling, combined with @ ..., selects an existing lot  by  its
           cost basis.  Does not check if that lot is present.

       o [YYYY/MM/DD] (lot date)

         o when buying, attaches this acquisition date to the lot

         o when selling, selects a lot by its acquisition date

       o (SOME TEXT) (lot note)

         o when buying, attaches this note to the lot

         o when selling, selects a lot by its note

       Currently, hledger

       o accepts any or all of the above in any order after the posting amount

       o supports @ and @@

       o treats (@) and (@@) as synonyms for @ and @@

       o and ignores the rest.  (This can break transaction balancing.)

       Beancount has simpler notation and different behaviour:

       o @ UNITCOST and @@ TOTALCOST

         o expresses a cost without creating a lot, as in hledger

         o when  buying  (acquiring) or selling (disposing of) a lot, and com-
           bined with {...}: is not used except to document  the  cost/selling
           price

       o {UNITCOST} and {{TOTALCOST}}

         o when buying, expresses the cost for transaction balancing, and also
           creates a lot with this cost basis attached

         o when selling,

           o selects a lot by its cost basis

           o raises an error if that lot is not present or can not be selected
             unambiguously (depending on booking method configured)

           o expresses the selling price for transaction balancing

       o {},   {YYYY-MM-DD},   {"LABEL"},   {UNITCOST,   "LABEL"},  {UNITCOST,
         YYYY-MM-DD, "LABEL"}

         o when selling,  other  combinations  of  date/cost/label,  like  the
           above, are accepted for selecting the lot.

       Currently, hledger

       o supports @ and @@

       o accepts the {UNITCOST}/{{TOTALCOST}} notation, but ignores it

       o and rejects the rest.

CSV
       hledger  can read transactions from CSV (comma-separated values) files.
       More precisely, it can read DSV (delimiter-separated  values),  from  a
       file  or  standard  input.   Comma-separated,  semicolon-separated  and
       tab-separated are the most common variants, and hledger will  recognise
       these  three  automatically based on a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file name ex-
       tension 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 attrib-
       utes.

       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.

   CSV rules cheatsheet
       The following kinds of rule can appear in the rules file, in any order.
       (Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; or * are ignored.)

       source                     optionally  declare  which  file  to read data
                                  from
       archive                    optionally enable an archive of imported files
       encoding                   optionally declare  which  text  encoding  the
                                  data has
       separator                  declare  the field separator, instead of rely-
                                  ing on file extension
       decimal-mark               declare the decimal mark used in CSV  amounts,
                                  when ambiguous
       date-format                declare how to parse CSV dates/date-times
       timezone                   declare   the   time  zone  of  ambiguous  CSV
                                  date-times
       newest-first               improve txn order  when:  there  are  multiple
                                  records, newest first, all with the same date
       intra-day-reversed         improve  txn  order when: same-day txns are in
                                  opposite order to the overall file
       skip                       (at top level) skip header line(s) at start of
                                  file
       fields list                name CSV fields for easy  reference,  and  op-
                                  tionally assign their values to hledger fields
       Field assignment           assign  a CSV value or interpolated text value
                                  to a hledger field
       if block                   conditionally assign values to hledger fields,
                                  or skip a record or end (skip rest of file)
       if table                   conditionally assign values to hledger fields,
                                  using compact syntax
       skip                       (inside an if rule) skip current record(s)
       end                        (inside an if rule) skip all remaining records
       balance-type               select which type  of  balance  assertions/as-
                                  signments to generate
       include                    inline another CSV rules file

       Working  with  CSV tips can be found below, including How CSV rules are
       evaluated.

   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 pro-
       vides 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 dif-
       ferent data file:

              source ./Checking1.csv

       If the file does not exist, it is just considered empty, without  rais-
       ing an error.

       If  you specify just a file name with no path, hledger will look for it
       in the ~/Downloads folder:

              source Checking1.csv

       You can use a glob pattern, to avoid specifying the file name exactly:

              source Checking1*.csv

       This has another  benefit:  if  the  pattern  matches  multiple  files,
       hledger will read the newest (most recently modified) one.  This avoids
       problems  if you have downloaded a file multiple times without cleaning
       up.

       All this enables a convenient workflow where can you just download  CSV
       files, then run hledger import rules/*.

       See also "Working with CSV > Reading files specified by rule".

   Data cleaning / data generating commands
       After source's file pattern, you can write | (pipe) and a data cleaning
       command  (or  command pipeline).  If hledger's CSV rules aren't enough,
       you can pre-process the downloaded data here with a  shell  command  or
       script,  to  make it more suitable for conversion.  The command will be
       executed by your default shell, in the directory  of  the  rules  file,
       will receive the data file's content as standard input, and should out-
       put zero or more lines of character-separated-values, suitable for con-
       version 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 success-
       fully, hledger will show the error output as a warning.  If the command
       fails, hledger will fail and show the error output in  the  error  mes-
       sage.

       Added in 1.50; experimental.

   archive
       With  archive  added  to  a rules file, the import command will archive
       each successfully processed data file  or  data  command  output  in  a
       nearby  data/  directory.   The  archive file name will be based on the
       rules file and the data file's modification date and extension (or  for
       a  data-generating 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 vari-
       ations in your bank's CSV, etc.

       Added in 1.50; experimental.

   encoding
              encoding ENCODING

       hledger normally expects non-ascii text to be using the system locale's
       text encoding.  If you need to read CSV files which have some other en-
       coding,  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.

   separator
       You can use the separator rule to read other kinds  of  character-sepa-
       rated  data.   The  argument  is any single separator character, or the
       words tab or space (case insensitive).  Eg, for comma-separated  values
       (CSV):

              separator ,

       or for semicolon-separated values (SSV):

              separator ;

       or for tab-separated values (TSV):

              separator TAB

       If  the  input file has a .csv, .ssv or .tsv file extension (or a csv:,
       ssv:, tsv: prefix), the appropriate separator will be inferred automat-
       ically, and you won't need this rule.

   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.

   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/pack-
       age/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.

   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.

   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 transac-
       tions in correct order.

              # same-day CSV records are newest first
              newest-first

   intra-day-reversed
       If CSV records within a single day are ordered opposite to the  overall
       record  order,  you  can add the intra-day-reversed rule to improve the
       order of journal entries.  Eg, here the overall record order is  newest
       first, but same-day records are oldest first:

              2022-10-02, txn 3...
              2022-10-02, txn 4...
              2022-10-01, txn 1...
              2022-10-01, txn 2...

              # transactions within each day are reversed with respect to the overall date order
              intra-day-reversed

   decimal-mark
              decimal-mark .

       or:

              decimal-mark ,

       hledger  automatically accepts either period or comma as a decimal mark
       when parsing numbers (cf Amounts).  However if any numbers in  the  CSV
       contain  digit  group  marks,  such  as thousand-separating commas, you
       should declare the decimal mark explicitly with  this  rule,  to  avoid
       misparsed numbers.

   CSV fields and hledger fields
       This can be confusing, so let's start with an overview:

       o 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.

       o hledger  fields are predefined; date, description, account1, amount1,
         account2 are some of them.  They correspond to parts  of  a  transac-
         tion's journal entry, mostly.

       o The CSV fields and hledger fields are the only fields you'll be work-
         ing  with; you can't define new fields, or variables as in a program-
         ming language.  (But you could add extra CSV fields to  the  data  in
         preprocessing, before running the rules.)

       o 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 combi-
         nation of these.

       o 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.

       o CSV fields can only be read, not written to.  They'll be on the right
         hand side, with a % prefix.  Eg

         o testing a CSV field's value: if %CSVFIELD ...

         o interpolating its value: HLEDGERFIELD %CSVFIELD

       o 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

         o setting the transaction's description to a value: description VALUE

         o setting  the  transaction's  description  to the second CSV field's
           value:
         fields date, description, amount

   fields list
              fields FIELDNAME1, FIELDNAME2, ...

       A fields list (the word fields followed by comma-separated field names)
       is optional, but convenient.  It does two things:

       1. It names the CSV field in each column.  This can  be  convenient  if
          you  are  referencing them in other rules, so you can say %SomeField
          instead of remembering %13.

       2. Whenever you use one of the special hledger field  names  (described
          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:

       o There must be least two items in the list (at least one comma).

       o Field  names may not contain spaces.  Spaces before/after field names
         are optional.

       o Field names may contain _ (underscore) or - (hyphen).

       o 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  re-
       placed 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  "bal-
       ance"  field balance_ to avoid directly setting hledger's balance field
       (and generating a balance assertion).

   Field assignment
              HLEDGERFIELD FIELDVALUE

       Field assignments are the more flexible way to  assign  CSV  values  to
       hledger fields.  They can be used instead of or in addition to a fields
       list (see above).

       To  assign a value to a hledger field, write the field name (any of the
       standard hledger field/pseudo-field names,  defined  below),  a  space,
       followed  by a text value on the same line.  This text value may inter-
       polate 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:

       o Interpolation strips outer whitespace (so a CSV value like " 1 "  be-
         comes 1 when interpolated) (#1051).

       o Interpolations  always refer to a CSV field - you can't interpolate a
         hledger field.  (See Referencing other fields below).

   Field names
       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  auto-
          matically recognise column headings in a CSV file), by writing arbi-
          trary 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 as-
          signment, 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  hap-
       pens when you assign values to them:

   date field
       Assigning to date sets the transaction date.

   date2 field
       date2 sets the transaction's secondary date, if any.

   status field
       status sets the transaction's status, if any.

   code field
       code sets the transaction's code, if any.

   description field
       description sets the transaction's description, if any.

   comment field
       comment sets the transaction's comment, if any.

       commentN, where N is a number, sets the Nth posting's comment.

       You  can  assign multi-line comments by writing literal \n in the code.
       A comment starting with \n will begin on a new line.

       Comments can contain tags, as usual.

       Posting comments can also contain a posting date.  A secondary date, or
       a year-less date, will be ignored.

   account field
       Assigning to accountN, where N is 1 to 99, sets the account name of the
       Nth posting, and causes that posting to be generated.

       Most often there are two postings, so you'll want to set  account1  and
       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").

   amount field
       There  are several ways to set posting amounts from CSV, useful in dif-
       ferent 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:

           o 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".

           o 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.

           o 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  noth-
             ing.

           o hledger  assumes both CSV fields contain unsigned numbers, and it
             automatically negates the amount-out values.

           o 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 com-
          plex  transactions.   The  posting numbers don't have to be consecu-
          tive; 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 flexibil-
          ity, use an if rule to set amounts conditionally.  See "Working with
          CSV > Setting amounts" below for more on this and on  amount-setting
          generally.

   currency field
       currency  sets  a  currency  symbol,  to  be prepended to all postings'
       amounts.  You can use this if the CSV amounts do not  have  a  currency
       symbol, eg if it is in a separate column.

       currencyN prepends a currency symbol to just the Nth posting's amount.

   balance field
       balanceN  sets  a balance assertion amount (or if the posting amount is
       left empty, a balance assignment) on posting N.

       balance is a compatibility spelling for hledger <1.17; it is equivalent
       to balance1.

       You can adjust the type of assertion/assignment with  the  balance-type
       rule (see below).

       See  the Working with CSV tips below for more about setting amounts and
       currency.

   if block
       Rules can be applied conditionally, depending on patterns  in  the  CSV
       data.   This allows flexibility; in particular, it is how you can cate-
       gorise transactions, selecting an appropriate  account  name  based  on
       their  description  (for  example).  There are two ways to write condi-
       tional 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  ap-
       plied.   They  are usually field assignments, but the following special
       rules may also be used within an if block:

       o skip - skips the matched CSV record (generating no  transaction  from
         it)

       o end - skips the rest of the current CSV file.

       Some examples:

              # if the record contains "groceries", set account2 to "expenses:groceries"
              if groceries
               account2 expenses:groceries

              # if the record contains any of these phrases, set account2 and a transaction comment as shown
              if
              monthly service fee
              atm transaction fee
              banking thru software
               account2 expenses:business:banking
               comment  XXX deductible ? check it

              # if an empty record is seen (assuming five fields), ignore the rest of the CSV file
              if ,,,,
               end

   Matchers
       There are two kinds of matcher:

       1. A  whole  record matcher is simplest: it is just a word, single-line
          text fragment, or other regular expression, which hledger  will  try
          to match case-insensitively anywhere within the CSV record.
       Eg: whole foods.

       2. A  field matcher has a percent-prefixed CSV field number or name be-
          fore 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  re-
          moved.
       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.  (Don't use a hledger field name here, unless
          it is also a CSV field name.)  A non-CSV field name will  cause  the
          matcher  to  match against "" (the empty string), and does not raise
          an error, allowing easier reuse of common rules with  different  CSV
          files.

       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  expres-
       sion  that also supports GNU word boundaries (\b, \B, \<, \>) and noth-
       ing else.  For more details and tips, see Regular  expressions  in  CSV
       rules below.

   Multiple matchers
       When an if block has multiple matchers, each on its own line,

       o By default they are OR'd (any of them can match).

       o Matcher  lines  beginning  with & (or &&, since 1.42) are AND'ed with
         the matcher above (all in the AND'ed group must match).

       o Matcher lines beginning with & ! (since 1.41, or &&  !,  since  1.42)
         are first negated and then AND'ed with the matcher above.

       You  can  also combine multiple matchers one the same line separated by
       && (AND) or && ! (AND NOT).  Eg %description amazon && %date 2025-01-01
       will match only when the description field contains  "amazon"  and  the
       date field contains "2025-01-01".  Added in 1.42.

   Match groups
       Added in 1.32

       Matchers can define match groups: parenthesised portions of the regular
       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 state-
       ments, using posting dates:

              if %date (....-..)-..
                comment2 date:\1-01

       Another example: Read the expense account from the CSV field, but throw
       away a prefix:

              if %account1 liabilities:family:(expenses:.*)
                  account1 \1

   if table
       "if  tables"  are  an  alternative  to if blocks; they can express many
       matchers and field assignments in a more compact tabular  format,  like
       this:

              if,HLEDGERFIELD1,HLEDGERFIELD2,...
              MATCHERA,VALUE1,VALUE2,...
              MATCHERB && MATCHERC,VALUE1,VALUE2,...  (*since 1.42*)
              ; Comment line that explains MATCHERD
              MATCHERD,VALUE1,VALUE2,...
              <empty line>

       The first character after if is taken to be this if table's field sepa-
       rator.   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 mul-
       tiple lines match, later lines will override  fields  assigned  by  the
       earlier ones - just like the sequence of if blocks would behave.

       If table presented above is equivalent to this sequence of if blocks:

              if MATCHERA
                HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
                HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
                ...

              if MATCHERB && MATCHERC
                HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
                HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
                ...

              ; Comment line which explains MATCHERD
              if MATCHERD
                HLEDGERFIELD1 VALUE1
                HLEDGERFIELD2 VALUE2
                ...

       Example:

              if,account2,comment
              atm transaction fee,expenses:business:banking,deductible? check it
              %description groceries,expenses:groceries,
              ;; Comment line that desribes why this particular date is special
              2023/01/12.*Plumbing LLC,expenses:house:upkeep,emergency plumbing call-out

   balance-type
       Balance assertions generated by assigning to balanceN are of the simple
       =  type  by  default, which is a single-commodity, subaccount-excluding
       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

   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

   Working with CSV
       Some tips:

   Rapid feedback
       It's  a  good idea to get rapid feedback while creating/troubleshooting
       CSV rules.  Here's a good way, using entr from eradman.com/entrproject:

              $ ls foo.csv* | entr bash -c 'echo ----; hledger -f foo.csv print desc:SOMEDESC'

       A desc: query (eg) is used to select just one, or a  few,  transactions
       of  interest.   "bash  -c"  is used to run multiple commands, so we can
       echo a separator each time the command re-runs,  making  it  easier  to
       read the output.

   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:

       o Values may be enclosed in double quotes, or not.  Enclosing in single
         quotes is not allowed.  (Eg 'A','B' is rejected.)

       o When values are enclosed in double quotes, spaces outside the  quotes
         are not allowed.  (Eg "A", "B" is rejected.)

       o 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  trans-
       form  it before reading with hledger.  Try using sed, or a more permis-
       sive CSV parser like python's csv lib.

   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.

   Reading CSV from standard input
       You'll  need  the  file format prefix when reading CSV from stdin also,
       since hledger assumes journal format by default.  Eg:

              $ cat foo.dat | hledger -f ssv:- print

   Reading multiple CSV files
       If you use multiple -f options to read  multiple  CSV  files  at  once,
       hledger  will  look for a correspondingly-named rules file for each CSV
       file.  But if you specify a rules file with --rules,  that  rules  file
       will be used for all the CSV files.

   Reading files specified by rule
       Instead of specifying a CSV file in the command line, you can specify a
       rules  file,  as in hledger -f foo.csv.rules CMD.  By default this will
       read data from foo.csv in the same directory, but you can add a  source
       rule  to  specify  a  different  data file, perhaps located in your web
       browser's 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 file-
       names  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 transac-
          tions

       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  noth-
       ing,  next  time your browser will save something like Checking1-2.csv,
       and hledger will use that because of the * wild card and because it  is
       the most recent.

   Valid transactions
       After reading a CSV file, hledger post-processes and validates the gen-
       erated journal entries as it would for a journal file - balancing them,
       applying  balance  assignments,  and canonicalising amount styles.  Any
       errors at this stage will be reported in the usual way, displaying  the
       problem entry.

       There is one exception: balance assertions, if you have generated them,
       will  not  be checked, since normally these will work only when the CSV
       data is part of the main journal.  If you do need to check balance  as-
       sertions generated from CSV right away, pipe into another hledger:

              $ hledger -f file.csv print | hledger -f- print

   Deduplicating, importing
       When  you  download a CSV file periodically, eg to get your latest bank
       transactions, the new file may overlap with  the  old  one,  containing
       some of the same records.

       The import command will (a) detect the new transactions, and (b) append
       just those transactions to your main journal.  It is idempotent, so you
       don't  have to remember how many times you ran it or with which version
       of the CSV.  (It keeps state in a hidden .latest.FILE.csv file.)   This
       is the easiest way to import CSV data.  Eg:

              # download the latest CSV files, then run this command.
              # Note, no -f flags needed here.
              $ hledger import *.csv [--dry]

       This  method  works  for  most CSV files.  (Where records have a stable
       chronological order, and new records appear only at the new end.)

       A number of other tools and workflows, hledger-specific and  otherwise,
       exist for converting, deduplicating, classifying and managing CSV data.
       See:

       o https://hledger.org/cookbook.html#setups-and-workflows

       o https://plaintextaccounting.org -> data import/conversion

   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:

       o Is field "foo" truly empty ?  if %foo ^$

       o Is it empty or containing only whitespace ?  if %foo ^ *$

       o Is it non-empty ?  if %foo .

       o 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:

       o Does foo contain a non-zero number ?  if %foo [1-9]

       o Is it negative ?  if %foo -

       o Is it non-negative ?  if ! %foo -

       o Is it >= 10 ?  if %foo [1-9][0-9]+\. (assuming a decimal  period  and
         no leading zeros)

       o Is it >= 10 and < 20 ?  if %foo \b1[0-9]\.

   Setting amounts
       Continuing  from amount field above, here are more tips for amount-set-
       ting:

       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  usu-
           ally 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 con-
           taining 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.

   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):

       o If an amount value begins with a plus sign:
       that will be removed: +AMT becomes AMT

       o If an amount value is parenthesised:
       it will be de-parenthesised and sign-flipped: (AMT) becomes -AMT

       o If an amount value has two minus signs (or two sets  of  parentheses,
         or a minus sign and parentheses):
       they cancel out and will be removed: --AMT or -(AMT) becomes AMT

       o If  an  amount value contains just a sign (or just a set of parenthe-
         ses):
       that is removed, making it an empty value.  "+" or "-" or "()"  becomes
       "".

       It's  not  possible (without preprocessing the CSV) to set an amount to
       its absolute value, ie discard its sign.

   Setting currency/commodity
       If the currency/commodity  symbol  is  included  in  the  CSV's  amount
       field(s):

              2023-01-01,foo,$123.00

       you don't have to do anything special for the commodity symbol, it will
       be assigned as part of the amount.  Eg:

              fields date,description,amount

              2023-01-01 foo
                  expenses:unknown         $123.00
                  income:unknown          $-123.00

       If the currency is provided as a separate CSV field:

              2023-01-01,foo,USD,123.00

       You can assign that to the currency pseudo-field, which has the special
       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.

   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 im-
       port foo.csv, there's another step: import tries to make  the  new  en-
       tries  conform to the journal's existing styles.  So for each commodity
       - let's say it's EUR - import will choose:

       1. the style declared for EUR by a commodity directive in the journal

       2. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts in the journal

       3. otherwise, the style inferred from EUR amounts generated by the  CSV
          rules.

       TLDR:  if  import  is not generating the precisions or styles you want,
       add a commodity directive to specify them.

   Referencing other fields
       In field assignments, you can interpolate only CSV fields, not  hledger
       fields.   In  the example below, there's both a CSV field and a hledger
       field named amount1, but %amount1 always means the CSV field,  not  the
       hledger field:

              # Name the third CSV field "amount1"
              fields date,description,amount1

              # Set hledger's amount1 to the CSV amount1 field followed by USD
              amount1 %amount1 USD

              # Set comment to the CSV amount1 (not the amount1 assigned above)
              comment %amount1

       Here,  since there's no CSV amount1 field, %amount1 will produce a lit-
       eral "amount1":

              fields date,description,csvamount
              amount1 %csvamount USD
              # Can't interpolate amount1 here
              comment %amount1

       When there are multiple field assignments to the  same  hledger  field,
       only the last one takes effect.  Here, comment's value will be be B, or
       C if "something" is matched, but never A:

              comment A
              comment B
              if something
               comment C

   How CSV rules are evaluated
       Here's how to think of CSV rules being evaluated.  If you get a confus-
       ing  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, recur-
          sively, 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  de-
          coded using the text encoding specified by the encoding rule, other-
          wise 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:

           o 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 num-
             ber of CSV records, then continue at 5.
           Otherwise...

           o Do some basic validation on this CSV record (eg,  check  that  it
             has at least two fields).

           o For each hledger field (date, description, account1, etc.):

             1. Get  the field's assigned value, first searching top level as-
                signments, made directly or by the fields rule,  then  assign-
                ments  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.

           o 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.

   Well factored rules
       Some  things  than  can help reduce duplication and complexity in rules
       files:

       o Extracting common rules usable with multiple CSV files  into  a  com-
         mon.rules, and adding include common.rules to each CSV's rules file.

       o Splitting if blocks into smaller if blocks, extracting the frequently
         used parts.

   CSV rules examples
   Bank of Ireland
       Here's  a  CSV with two amount fields (Debit and Credit), and a balance
       field, which we can use to add balance assertions, which is not  neces-
       sary but provides extra error checking:

              Date,Details,Debit,Credit,Balance
              07/12/2012,LODGMENT       529898,,10.0,131.21
              07/12/2012,PAYMENT,5,,126

              # bankofireland-checking.csv.rules

              # skip the header line
              skip

              # name the csv fields, and assign some of them as journal entry fields
              fields  date, description, amount-out, amount-in, balance

              # We generate balance assertions by assigning to "balance"
              # above, but you may sometimes need to remove these because:
              #
              # - the CSV balance differs from the true balance,
              #   by up to 0.0000000000005 in my experience
              #
              # - it is sometimes calculated based on non-chronological ordering,
              #   eg when multiple transactions clear on the same day

              # date is in UK/Ireland format
              date-format  %d/%m/%Y

              # set the currency
              currency  EUR

              # set the base account for all txns
              account1  assets:bank:boi:checking

              $ hledger -f bankofireland-checking.csv print
              2012-12-07 LODGMENT       529898
                  assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR10.0 = EUR131.2
                  income:unknown                  EUR-10.0

              2012-12-07 PAYMENT
                  assets:bank:boi:checking         EUR-5.0 = EUR126.0
                  expenses:unknown                  EUR5.0

       The  balance assertions don't raise an error above, because we're read-
       ing directly from CSV, but they will be checked if  these  entries  are
       imported into a journal file.

   Coinbase
       A  simple  example  with  some  CSV  from  Coinbase.  The spot price is
       recorded using cost notation.  The  legacy  amount  field  name  conve-
       niently sets amount 2 (posting 2's amount) to the total cost.

              # Timestamp,Transaction Type,Asset,Quantity Transacted,Spot Price Currency,Spot Price at Transaction,Subtotal,Total (inclusive of fees and/or spread),Fees and/or Spread,Notes
              # 2021-12-30T06:57:59Z,Receive,USDC,100,GBP,0.740000,"","","","Received 100.00 USDC from an external account"

              # coinbase.csv.rules
              skip         1
              fields       Timestamp,Transaction_Type,Asset,Quantity_Transacted,Spot_Price_Currency,Spot_Price_at_Transaction,Subtotal,Total,Fees_Spread,Notes
              date         %Timestamp
              date-format  %Y-%m-%dT%T%Z
              description  %Notes
              account1     assets:coinbase:cc
              amount       %Quantity_Transacted %Asset @ %Spot_Price_at_Transaction %Spot_Price_Currency

              $ hledger print -f coinbase.csv
              2021-12-30 Received 100.00 USDC from an external account
                  assets:coinbase:cc    100 USDC @ 0.740000 GBP
                  income:unknown                 -74.000000 GBP

   Amazon
       Here we convert amazon.com order history, and use an if block to gener-
       ate  a third posting if there's a fee.  (In practice you'd probably get
       this data from your bank instead, but it's an example.)

              "Date","Type","To/From","Name","Status","Amount","Fees","Transaction ID"
              "Jul 29, 2012","Payment","To","Foo.","Completed","$20.00","$0.00","16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"
              "Jul 30, 2012","Payment","To","Adapteva, Inc.","Completed","$25.00","$1.00","17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL"

              # amazon-orders.csv.rules

              # skip one header line
              skip 1

              # name the csv fields, and assign the transaction's date, amount and code.
              # Avoided the "status" and "amount" hledger field names to prevent confusion.
              fields date, _, toorfrom, name, amzstatus, amzamount, fees, code

              # how to parse the date
              date-format %b %-d, %Y

              # combine two fields to make the description
              description %toorfrom %name

              # save the status as a tag
              comment     status:%amzstatus

              # set the base account for all transactions
              account1    assets:amazon
              # leave amount1 blank so it can balance the other(s).
              # I'm assuming amzamount excludes the fees, don't remember

              # set a generic account2
              account2    expenses:misc
              amount2     %amzamount
              # and maybe refine it further:
              #include categorisation.rules

              # add a third posting for fees, but only if they are non-zero.
              if %fees [1-9]
               account3    expenses:fees
               amount3     %fees

              $ hledger -f amazon-orders.csv print
              2012-07-29 (16000000000000DGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Foo.  ; status:Completed
                  assets:amazon
                  expenses:misc          $20.00

              2012-07-30 (17LA58JSKRD4HDGLNJPI1P9B8DKPVHL) To Adapteva, Inc.  ; status:Completed
                  assets:amazon
                  expenses:misc          $25.00
                  expenses:fees           $1.00

   Paypal
       Here's a real-world rules file for (customised) Paypal CSV,  with  some
       Paypal-specific rules, and a second rules file included:

              "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"
              "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","Calm Radio","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-6.99","0.00","-6.99","simon@joyful.com","memberships@calmradio.com","60P57143A8206782E","MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month","","I-R8YLY094FJYR","","-6.99",""
              "10/01/2019","03:46:20","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","6.99","0.00","6.99","","simon@joyful.com","0TU1544T080463733","","","60P57143A8206782E","","0.00",""
              "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","Patreon","PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment","Completed","USD","-7.00","0.00","-7.00","simon@joyful.com","support@patreon.com","2722394R5F586712G","Patreon* Membership","","B-0PG93074E7M86381M","","-7.00",""
              "10/01/2019","08:57:01","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","7.00","0.00","7.00","","simon@joyful.com","71854087RG994194F","Patreon* Membership","","2722394R5F586712G","","0.00",""
              "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","-2.00","0.00","-2.00","simon@joyful.com","tle@wikimedia.org","K9U43044RY432050M","Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation","","I-R5C3YUS3285L","","-2.00",""
              "10/19/2019","03:02:12","PDT","","Bank Deposit to PP Account ","Pending","USD","2.00","0.00","2.00","","simon@joyful.com","3XJ107139A851061F","","","K9U43044RY432050M","","0.00",""
              "10/22/2019","05:07:06","PDT","Noble Benefactor","Subscription Payment","Completed","USD","10.00","-0.59","9.41","noble@bene.fac.tor","simon@joyful.com","6L8L1662YP1334033","Joyful Systems","","I-KC9VBGY2GWDB","","9.41",""

              # paypal-custom.csv.rules

              # Tips:
              # Export from Activity -> Statements -> Custom -> Activity download
              # Suggested transaction type: "Balance affecting"
              # Paypal's default fields in 2018 were:
              # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Shipping Address","Address Status","Item Title","Item ID","Shipping and Handling Amount","Insurance Amount","Sales Tax","Option 1 Name","Option 1 Value","Option 2 Name","Option 2 Value","Reference Txn ID","Invoice Number","Custom Number","Quantity","Receipt ID","Balance","Address Line 1","Address Line 2/District/Neighborhood","Town/City","State/Province/Region/County/Territory/Prefecture/Republic","Zip/Postal Code","Country","Contact Phone Number","Subject","Note","Country Code","Balance Impact"
              # This rules file assumes the following more detailed fields, configured in "Customize report fields":
              # "Date","Time","TimeZone","Name","Type","Status","Currency","Gross","Fee","Net","From Email Address","To Email Address","Transaction ID","Item Title","Item ID","Reference Txn ID","Receipt ID","Balance","Note"

              fields date, time, timezone, description_, type, status_, currency, grossamount, feeamount, netamount, fromemail, toemail, code, itemtitle, itemid, referencetxnid, receiptid, balance, note

              skip  1

              date-format  %-m/%-d/%Y

              # ignore some paypal events
              if
              In Progress
              Temporary Hold
              Update to
               skip

              # add more fields to the description
              description %description_ %itemtitle

              # save some other fields as tags
              comment  itemid:%itemid, fromemail:%fromemail, toemail:%toemail, time:%time, type:%type, status:%status_

              # convert to short currency symbols
              if %currency USD
               currency $
              if %currency EUR
               currency E
              if %currency GBP
               currency P

              # generate postings

              # the first posting will be the money leaving/entering my paypal account
              # (negative means leaving my account, in all amount fields)
              account1 assets:online:paypal
              amount1  %netamount

              # the second posting will be money sent to/received from other party
              # (account2 is set below)
              amount2  -%grossamount

              # if there's a fee, add a third posting for the money taken by paypal.
              if %feeamount [1-9]
               account3 expenses:banking:paypal
               amount3  -%feeamount
               comment3 business:

              # choose an account for the second posting

              # override the default account names:
              # if the amount is positive, it's income (a debit)
              if %grossamount ^[^-]
               account2 income:unknown
              # if negative, it's an expense (a credit)
              if %grossamount ^-
               account2 expenses:unknown

              # apply common rules for setting account2 & other tweaks
              include common.rules

              # apply some overrides specific to this csv

              # Transfers from/to bank. These are usually marked Pending,
              # which can be disregarded in this case.
              if
              Bank Account
              Bank Deposit to PP Account
               description %type for %referencetxnid %itemtitle
               account2 assets:bank:wf:pchecking
               account1 assets:online:paypal

              # Currency conversions
              if Currency Conversion
               account2 equity:currency conversion

              # common.rules

              if
              darcs
              noble benefactor
               account2 revenues:foss donations:darcshub
               comment2 business:

              if
              Calm Radio
               account2 expenses:online:apps

              if
              electronic frontier foundation
              Patreon
              wikimedia
              Advent of Code
               account2 expenses:dues

              if Google
               account2 expenses:online:apps
               description google | music

              $ hledger -f paypal-custom.csv  print
              2019-10-01 (60P57143A8206782E) Calm Radio MONTHLY - $1 for the first 2 Months: Me - Order 99309. Item total: $1.00 USD first 2 months, then $6.99 / Month  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:memberships@calmradio.com, time:03:46:20, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
                  assets:online:paypal          $-6.99 = $-6.99
                  expenses:online:apps           $6.99

              2019-10-01 (0TU1544T080463733) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 60P57143A8206782E  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:46:20, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
                  assets:online:paypal               $6.99 = $0.00
                  assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-6.99

              2019-10-01 (2722394R5F586712G) Patreon Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:support@patreon.com, time:08:57:01, type:PreApproved Payment Bill User Payment, status:Completed
                  assets:online:paypal          $-7.00 = $-7.00
                  expenses:dues                  $7.00

              2019-10-01 (71854087RG994194F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for 2722394R5F586712G Patreon* Membership  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:08:57:01, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
                  assets:online:paypal               $7.00 = $0.00
                  assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-7.00

              2019-10-19 (K9U43044RY432050M) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Monthly donation to the Wikimedia Foundation  ; itemid:, fromemail:simon@joyful.com, toemail:tle@wikimedia.org, time:03:02:12, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
                  assets:online:paypal             $-2.00 = $-2.00
                  expenses:dues                     $2.00
                  expenses:banking:paypal      ; business:

              2019-10-19 (3XJ107139A851061F) Bank Deposit to PP Account for K9U43044RY432050M  ; itemid:, fromemail:, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:03:02:12, type:Bank Deposit to PP Account, status:Pending
                  assets:online:paypal               $2.00 = $0.00
                  assets:bank:wf:pchecking          $-2.00

              2019-10-22 (6L8L1662YP1334033) Noble Benefactor Joyful Systems  ; itemid:, fromemail:noble@bene.fac.tor, toemail:simon@joyful.com, time:05:07:06, type:Subscription Payment, status:Completed
                  assets:online:paypal                       $9.41 = $9.41
                  revenues:foss donations:darcshub         $-10.00  ; business:
                  expenses:banking:paypal                    $0.59  ; business:

Timeclock
       hledger  can  read  time  logs  in the timeclock time logging format of
       timeclock.el.  As with Ledger, hledger's timeclock  format  is  a  sub-
       set/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  ig-
       nored; 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.  En-
       tries 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:

       o 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'

       o or Emacs's built-in timeclock.el, or the extended timeclock-x.el, and
         perhaps the extras in ledgerutils.el

       o or use the old ti and to scripts in the ledger 2.x repository.  These
         rely  on  a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2
         executable renamed.

Timedot
       timedot format is hledger's human-friendly time logging  format.   Com-
       pared  to  timeclock  format, it is more convenient for quick, approxi-
       mate, and retroactive time logging, and more  human-readable  (you  can
       see at a glance where time was spent).  A quick example:

              2023-05-01
              hom:errands          .... ....  ; two hours; the space is ignored
              fos:hledger:timedot  ..         ; half an hour
              per:admin:finance               ; no time spent yet

       hledger reads this as a transaction on this day with three (unbalanced)
       postings, where each dot represents "0.25".  No commodity symbol is as-
       sumed, but we typically interpret it as hours.

              $ hledger -f a.timedot print   # .timedot file extension (or timedot: prefix) is required
              2023-05-01 *
                  (hom:errands)                    2.00  ; two hours
                  (fos:hledger:timedot)            0.50  ; half an hour
                  (per:admin:finance)                 0

       A timedot file contains a series of transactions (usually one per day).
       Each  begins with a simple date (Y-M-D, Y/M/D, or Y.M.D), optionally be
       followed on the same line by a transaction description, and/or a trans-
       action comment following a semicolon.

       After the date line are zero or more time postings, consisting of:

       o An account name - any  hledger-style  account  name,  optionally  in-
         dented.

       o Two  or  more  spaces - required if there is an amount (as in journal
         format).

       o A timedot amount, which can be

         o empty (representing zero)

         o 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.

         o 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.

         o 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 pro-
           vides a second dimension of  categorisation,  viewable  in  reports
           with --pivot t.

       o 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:

       o Blank lines and lines beginning with # or ; are ignored.

       o 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).

       o 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).

   Timedot examples
       Numbers:

              2016/2/3
              inc:client1   4
              fos:hledger   3h
              biz:research  60m

       Dots:

              # on this day, 6h was spent on client work, 1.5h on haskell FOSS work, etc.
              2016/2/1
              inc:client1   .... .... .... .... .... ....
              fos:haskell   .... ..
              biz:research  .

              2016/2/2
              inc:client1   .... ....
              biz:research  .

              $ hledger -f a.timedot print date:2016/2/2
              2016-02-02 *
                  (inc:client1)          2.00

              2016-02-02 *
                  (biz:research)          0.25

              $ hledger -f a.timedot bal --daily --tree
              Balance changes in 2016-02-01-2016-02-03:

                          ||  2016-02-01d  2016-02-02d  2016-02-03d
              ============++========================================
               biz        ||         0.25         0.25         1.00
                 research ||         0.25         0.25         1.00
               fos        ||         1.50            0         3.00
                 haskell  ||         1.50            0            0
                 hledger  ||            0            0         3.00
               inc        ||         6.00         2.00         4.00
                 client1  ||         6.00         2.00         4.00
              ------------++----------------------------------------
                          ||         7.75         2.25         8.00

       Letters:

              # Activity types:
              #  c cleanup/catchup/repair
              #  e enhancement
              #  s support
              #  l learning/research

              2023-11-01
              work:adm  ccecces

              $ hledger -f a.timedot print
              2023-11-01
                  (work:adm)  1     ; t:c
                  (work:adm)  0.5   ; t:e
                  (work:adm)  0.25  ; t:s

              $ hledger -f a.timedot bal
                              1.75  work:adm
              --------------------
                              1.75

              $ hledger -f a.timedot bal --pivot t
                              1.00  c
                              0.50  e
                              0.25  s
              --------------------
                              1.75

       Org:

              * 2023 Work Diary
              ** Q1
              *** 2023-02-29
              **** DONE
              0700 yoga
              **** UNPLANNED
              **** BEGUN
              hom:chores
               cleaning  ...
               water plants
                outdoor - one full watering can
                indoor - light watering
              **** TODO
              adm:planning: trip
              *** LATER

       Using . as account name separator:

              2016/2/4
              fos.hledger.timedot  4h
              fos.ledger           ..

              $ hledger -f a.timedot --alias '/\./=:' bal -t
                              4.50  fos
                              4.00    hledger:timedot
                              0.50    ledger
              --------------------
                              4.50

PART 3: REPORTING CONCEPTS
Time periods
   Report start & end date
       Most  hledger  reports will by default show the full time period repre-
       sented 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) op-
       tion  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)

   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

       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:

       o 20181301 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid month) is parsed as an eight-digit
         year

       o 20181232 (YYYYMMDD with an invalid day) gives a parse error

       o 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  over-
       ride  that.   (Except for periodic transaction rules, which are not af-
       fected by --today.)

   Report intervals
       A report interval can be specified so that reports like register,  bal-
       ance or activity become multi-period, showing each subperiod as a sepa-
       rate row or column.

       The  following  standard  intervals  can  be  enabled with command-line
       flags:

       o -D/--daily

       o -W/--weekly

       o -M/--monthly

       o -Q/--quarterly

       o -Y/--yearly

       More complex intervals can be specified  using  -p/--period,  described
       below.

   Date adjustments
   Start date adjustment
       If you let hledger infer a report's start date, it will adjust the date
       to the previous natural boundary of the report interval, for convenient
       periodic reports.  (If you don't want that, specify a start date.)

       For example, if the journal's first transaction is on january 10th,

       o hledger  register (no report interval) will start the report on janu-
         ary 10th.

       o hledger register --monthly will start  the  report  on  the  previous
         month boundary, january 1st.

       o hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 will start the report on janu-
         ary 5th [1].

       Also  if  you are generating transactions or budget goals with periodic
       transaction rules, their start date may be adjusted in  a  similar  way
       (in certain situations).

   End date adjustment
       A report's end date is always adjusted to include a whole number of in-
       tervals, so that the last subperiod has the same length as the others.

       For example, if the journal's last transaction is on february 20th,

       o hledger register will end the report on february 20th.

       o hledger  register  --monthly will end the report at the end of febru-
         ary.

       o hledger register --monthly --end 2/14 also will end the report at the
         end of february (overriding the requested end date).

       o hledger register --monthly --begin 1/5 --end 2/14 will end the report
         on march 4th [1].

       [1] Since hledger 1.29.

   Period headings
       With non-standard subperiods, hledger  will  show  "STARTDATE..ENDDATE"
       headings.  With standard subperiods (ie, starting on a natural interval
       boundary),  you'll see more compact headings, which are usually prefer-
       able.  (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 quar-
       terly  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 dif-
       ferent dates until you see the short headings, or write eg -b '3  weeks
       ago'.)

   Period expressions
       The  -p/--period  option specifies a period expression, which is a com-
       pact 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  syn-
                            onym
       -p "from 2009"       the same
       -p "to 2009"         everything  before january
                            1, 2009

       You can also specify a period by writing a single partial or full date:

       -p "2009"        the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1"
       -p "2009/1"      the month of january 2009; equivalent to  "2009/1/1  to
                        2009/2/1"
       -p "2009/1/1"    the  first  day  of  2009;  equivalent  to "2009/1/1 to
                        2009/1/2"

       or by using the "Q" quarter-year syntax (case insensitive):

       -p "2009Q1"       first quarter  of  2009,  equivalent  to  "2009/1/1  to
                         2009/4/1"
       -p "q4"           fourth quarter of the current year

   Period expressions with a report interval
       A  period  expression  can also begin with a report interval, separated
       from the start/end dates (if any) by a space or the word in:

       -p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
       -p "monthly in 2008"
       -p "quarterly"

   More complex report intervals
       Some more complex intervals can be specified within period expressions,
       such as:

       o biweekly (every two weeks)

       o fortnightly

       o bimonthly (every two months)

       o every day|week|month|quarter|year

       o every N days|weeks|months|quarters|years

       Weekly on a custom day:

       o every Nth day of week (th, nd, rd, or st are all accepted  after  the
         number)

       o every  WEEKDAYNAME  (full  or three-letter english weekday name, case
         insensitive)

       Monthly on a custom day:

       o every Nth day [of month] (31st day will be adjusted to  each  month's
         last day)

       o every Nth WEEKDAYNAME [of month]

       Yearly on a custom month and day:

       o every MM/DD [of year] (month number and day of month number)

       o every  MONTHNAME  DDth  [of year] (full or three-letter english month
         name, case insensitive, and day of month number)

       o every DDth MONTHNAME [of year] (equivalent to the above)

       Examples:

       -p "bimonthly from 2008"
       -p "every 2 weeks"
       -p  "every  5  months  from
       2009/03"
       -p "every 2nd day of week"    periods will go from Tue to Tue
       -p "every Tue"                same
       -p "every 15th day"           period  boundaries  will be on 15th of each
                                     month
       -p "every 2nd Monday"         period boundaries will be on second  Monday
                                     of each month
       -p "every 11/05"              yearly  periods  with  boundaries on 5th of
                                     November
       -p "every 5th November"       same
       -p "every Nov 5th"            same

       Show historical balances at end of the 15th day of each month (N is  an
       end date, exclusive as always):

              $ hledger balance -H -p "every 16th day"

       Group  postings  from  the  start  of wednesday to end of the following
       tuesday (N is both (inclusive) start date and (exclusive) end date):

              $ hledger register checking -p "every 3rd day of week"

   Multiple weekday intervals
       This special form is also supported:

       o every WEEKDAYNAME,WEEKDAYNAME,... (full or three-letter english week-
         day 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 weekday"   dates will be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri; periods  will
                            be Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri-Sun
       -p "every weekend-   dates will be Sat, Sun; periods will be Sat, Sun-Fri
       day"

Depth
       With  the --depth NUM option (short form, usually preferred: -NUM), re-
       ports will show accounts only to the  specified  depth,  hiding  deeper
       subaccounts.   Use this when you want a summary with less detail.  This
       flag has the same effect as a depth: query argument.  So all  of  these
       are equivalent: depth:2, --depth=2, -2.

       You  can also provide custom depths for specific accounts, by providing
       a REGEX=NUM argument instead of just NUM (since  1.41).   For  example,
       --depth  assets=2  (or  depth:assets=2) will collapse accounts matching
       the regular expression "assets" to  depth  2.   So  assets:bank:savings
       would  be  collapsed  to  assets:bank, but liabilities:bank:credit card
       would not be affected.

       If REGEX contains spaces or other special  characters,  enclose  it  in
       quotes in the usual way.  Eg: --depth 'credit card=2'

   Combining depth options
       If a command line contains multiple general depth options, the last one
       wins.  (Useful for overriding a depth specified by scripts.)

       Or  a command may contain a combination of general and custom depth op-
       tions.  In this case, the most specifically (deepest)  matching  option
       wins.  Some examples:

       o --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.

       o --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.

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:

       o By default, a query argument is treated as  a  case-insensitive  sub-
         string pattern for matching account names.  Eg:

         dining groceries
         car:fuel
       o Patterns  containing  spaces  or other special characters must be en-
         closed in single or double quotes:

         'personal care'
       o Patterns are actually regular expressions,  so  you  can  add  regexp
         metacharacters  for  more precision (or you may need to backslash-es-
         cape certain characters; see "Regular expressions" above):

         '^expenses\b'
         'food$'
         'fuel|repair'
         'accounts (payable|receivable)'
       o 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)
       o To negate a query, add a not: prefix:

         not:status:'*'
         not:desc:'opening|closing'
         not:cur:USD
       o 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").
       o 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 com-
       mands 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:

       o Transaction-oriented commands (print, aregister, close,  import,  de-
         scriptions..)  try to match transactions (including the transaction's
         postings).

       o Posting-oriented  commands (register, balance, balancesheet, incomes-
         tatement, 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.

       o A few commands match in more specific ways.  (Eg aregister, which has
         a special first argument.)

   Query types
       Here are the query types available:

   acct: query
       acct:REGEX, or just REGEX
       Match account names containing this case  insensitive  regular  expres-
       sion.
       This  is the default query type, so we usually don't bother writing the
       "acct:" prefix.

   amt: query
       amt:N, amt:'<N', amt:'<=N', amt:'>N', amt:'>=N'
       Match postings with a single-commodity amount equal to, less  than,  or
       greater  than  N. (Postings with multi-commodity amounts are not tested
       and  will  always  match.)   amt:  needs  quotes  to  hide   the   less
       than/greater than sign from the command line shell.

       The  comparison has two modes: if N is preceded by a + or - sign (or is
       0), the two signed numbers are compared.  Otherwise, the absolute  mag-
       nitudes are compared, ignoring sign.

       Keep in mind that amt: matches posting amounts, not account balances.

   code: query
       code:REGEX
       Match by transaction code (eg check number).

   cur: query
       cur:REGEX
       Match  postings  or  transactions  including  any  amounts  whose  cur-
       rency/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-signifi-
       cant, you need to escape them with \.  And  for  characters  which  are
       significant  to  your shell you will usually need one more level of es-
       caping.  Eg to match the dollar sign: cur:\\$ or cur:'\$'

   desc: query
       desc:REGEX
       Match transaction descriptions.

   date: query
       date:PERIODEXPR
       Match dates (or with the --date2  flag,  secondary  dates)  within  the
       specified period.  PERIODEXPR is a period expression with no report in-
       terval.  Examples:
       date:2016, date:thismonth, date:2/1-2/15, date:2021-07-27..nextquarter.

   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.

   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 expres-
       sion.  See Depth for detailed rules.

   note: query
       note:REGEX
       Match transaction notes (the part of the description right of |, or the
       whole description if there's no |).

   payee: query
       payee:REGEX
       Match  transaction  payee/payer names (the part of the description left
       of |, or the whole description if there's no |).

   real: query
       real:, real:0
       Match real or virtual postings respectively.

   status: query
       status:, status:!, status:*
       Match unmarked, pending, or cleared transactions respectively.

   type: query
       type:TYPECODES
       Match by account type (see Declaring accounts > Account types).   TYPE-
       CODES  is  one or more of the single-letter account type codes ALERXCV,
       case insensitive.  Note type:A and type:E will also match their respec-
       tive subtypes C (Cash) and V (Conversion).  Certain  kinds  of  account
       alias  can  disrupt account types, see Rewriting accounts > Aliases and
       account types.

   tag: query
       tag:NAMEREGEX[=VALREGEX]
       Match by tag name, and optionally also by tag value.  Note:

       o Both regular expressions do infix matching.  If you need  a  complete
         match, use ^ and $.
       Eg: tag:'^fullname$', tag:'^fullname$=^fullvalue$

       o To match values, ignoring names, do tag:.=VALREGEX

       o Accounts also inherit the tags of their parent accounts.

       o Postings also inherit the tags of their account and their transaction
         .

       o Transactions also acquire the tags of their postings.

   Negative queries
   not: query
       not:QUERY
       You can prepend not: to a query to negate the match.
       Eg: not:equity, not:desc:apple
       (Also,  a  trick: not:not:... can sometimes solve query problems conve-
       niently.)

   Space-separated queries
       When given multiple space-separated query terms, most  commands  select
       things which match:

       o any of the description terms AND

       o any of the account terms AND

       o any of the status terms AND

       o all the other terms.

       The print command is a little different, showing transactions which:

       o match any of the description terms AND

       o have any postings matching any of the positive account terms AND

       o have no postings matching any of the negative account terms AND

       o match all the other terms.

   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.

   expr: query
       expr:'QUERYEXPR'
       For  example, expr:'date:lastmonth AND NOT (food OR rent)' means "match
       things which are dated in the last month and do not have food  or  rent
       in the account name".

       When  using  expr: with transaction-oriented commands like print, post-
       ing-oriented query terms like acct: and amt: are  considered  to  match
       the transaction if they match any of its postings.
       So,  hledger print expr:'cash and amt:>0' means "show transactions with
       (at least one posting involving a cash account) and (at least one post-
       ing with a positive amount)".

   any: query
       any:'QUERYEXPR'
       Like expr:, but  when  used  with  transaction-oriented  commands  like
       print,  it  matches the transaction only if a posting can be matched by
       all of 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".

   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".

   Queries and command options
       Some queries can also be expressed as command-line options: depth:2  is
       equivalent to --depth 2, date:2023 is equivalent to -p 2023, etc.  When
       you  mix  command  options and query arguments, generally the resulting
       query is their intersection.

   Queries and account aliases
       When account names are rewritten with  --alias  or  alias,  acct:  will
       match either the old or the new account name.

   Queries and valuation
       When  amounts  are  converted to other commodities in cost or value re-
       ports, cur: and amt: match the old commodity symbol and the old  amount
       quantity, not the new ones.  (Except in hledger 1.22, #1625.)

Pivoting
       Normally,  hledger  groups amounts and displays their totals by account
       (name).  With  --pivot  PIVOTEXPR,  some  other  field's  (or  multiple
       fields')  value  is used as a synthetic account name, causing different
       grouping and display.  PIVOTEXPR can be

       o any of these standard transaction or posting fields (their  value  is
         substituted):  status,  code, desc, payee, note, acct, comm/cur, amt,
         cost

       o or a tag name

       o or any combination of these, colon-separated.

       Some special cases:

       o Colons appearing in PIVOTEXPR or in a pivoted tag value will generate
         account hierarchy.

       o When pivoting a posting that has multiple values for a tag, the tag's
         first value will be used as the pivoted value.

       o 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

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:

       o Missing  amounts  or missing costs in transactions are inferred auto-
         matically when possible.

       o The --infer-equity flag infers  missing  conversion  equity  postings
         from @/@@ costs.

       o The  --infer-costs  flag  infers missing costs from conversion equity
         postings.

       o The --infer-market-prices flag infers P price directives from costs.

       o The --auto flag adds extra postings to transactions matched  by  auto
         posting rules.

       o The  --forecast  option generates transactions from periodic transac-
         tion rules.

       o The balance --budget report infers budget goals from periodic  trans-
         action rules.

       o Commands  like close, rewrite, and hledger-interest generate transac-
         tions or postings.

       o 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 some-
       times 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).  Sim-
       ilar  hidden tags (with an underscore prefix) are always present, also,
       so you can always match such data with queries  like  tag:generated  or
       tag:modified.

Forecasting
       Forecasting,  or  speculative future reporting, can be useful for esti-
       mating future balances, or for exploring different future scenarios.

       The simplest and most flexible way to do it with hledger is to manually
       record a bunch of future-dated transactions.  You could keep these in a
       separate future.journal and include that with -f only when you want  to
       see them.

   --forecast
       There  is another way: with the --forecast option, hledger can generate
       temporary "forecast transactions" for reporting purposes, according  to
       periodic  transaction rules defined in the journal.  Each rule can gen-
       erate 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 re-
       quired.

   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.)

   Forecast reports
       Forecast transactions affect all reports, as you would expect.  Eg:

              $ hledger areg rent --forecast --today=2023/4/21
              Transactions in expenses:rent and subaccounts:
              2023-05-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $1000
              2023-06-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $2000
              2023-07-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $3000
              2023-08-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $4000
              2023-09-20 rent                 as:ba:checking               $1000         $5000

              $ hledger bal -M expenses --forecast --today=2023/4/21
              Balance changes in 2023-05-01..2023-09-30:

                             ||   May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep
              ===============++===================================
               expenses:rent || $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000
              ---------------++-----------------------------------
                             || $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000  $1000

   Forecast tags
       Forecast transactions generated by --forecast have a hidden tag,  _gen-
       erated-transaction.   So  if  you  ever need to match forecast transac-
       tions, you could use tag:_generated-transaction (or just tag:generated)
       in a query.

       For troubleshooting, you can add the --verbose-tags flag.  Then,  visi-
       ble generated-transaction tags will be added also, so you can view them
       with  the print command.  Their value indicates which periodic rule was
       responsible.

   Forecast period, in detail
       Forecast start/end dates are chosen so as to do something useful by de-
       fault in almost all situations, while also being  flexible.   Here  are
       (with luck) the exact rules, to help with troubleshooting:

       The forecast period starts on:

       o the later of

         o the start date in the periodic transaction rule

         o the start date in --forecast's argument

       o otherwise (if those are not available): the later of

         o the report start date specified with -b/-p/date:

         o the day after the latest ordinary transaction in the journal

       o otherwise (if none of these are available): today.

       The forecast period ends on:

       o the earlier of

         o the end date in the periodic transaction rule

         o the end date in --forecast's argument

       o otherwise: the report end date specified with -e/-p/date:

       o otherwise: 180 days (~6 months) from today.

   Forecast troubleshooting
       When  --forecast is not doing what you expect, one of these tips should
       help:

       o Remember to use the --forecast option.

       o Remember to have at least one periodic transaction rule in your jour-
         nal.

       o Test with print --forecast.

       o Check for typos or too-restrictive start/end dates in  your  periodic
         transaction rule.

       o Leave  at least 2 spaces between the rule's period expression and de-
         scription fields.

       o Check for future-dated ordinary transactions  suppressing  forecasted
         transactions.

       o Try setting explicit report start and/or end dates with -b, -e, -p or
         date:

       o Try  adding  the  -E  flag to encourage display of empty periods/zero
         transactions.

       o Try setting explicit forecast start and/or  end  dates  with  --fore-
         cast=START..END

       o Consult Forecast period, in detail, above.

       o Check inside the engine: add --debug=2 (eg).

Budgeting
       With  the  balance command's --budget report, each periodic transaction
       rule generates recurring budget goals in specified accounts, and  goals
       and  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.

Amount formatting
   Commodity display style
       For the amounts in each commodity, hledger chooses a consistent display
       style (symbol placement, decimal mark and digit group marks, number  of
       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 preci-
       sions,  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 writ-
       ten in the journal (excluding cost  amounts  and  amounts  in  periodic
       transaction rules or auto posting rules).  It uses

       o the symbol placement and decimal mark of the first amount seen

       o the digit group marks of the first amount with digit group marks

       o and the maximum number of decimal digits seen across all amounts.

       And  as fallback if no applicable amounts are found, it would use a de-
       fault style, like $1000.00 (symbol on the left with no space, period as
       decimal mark, and two decimal digits).

       Finally, commodity styles can be overridden by the -c/--commodity-style
       command line option.

   Rounding
       Amounts are stored internally as decimal numbers with up to 255 decimal
       places.  They are displayed with their original journal  precisions  by
       print  and  print-like  reports, and rounded to their display precision
       (the number of decimal digits specified by the commodity display style)
       by other reports.  When rounding, hledger uses  banker's  rounding  (it
       rounds to the nearest even digit).  So eg 0.5 displayed with zero deci-
       mal digits appears as "0".

   Trailing decimal marks
       If you're wondering why your print report sometimes shows trailing dec-
       imal  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

   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)

       o This is produced by reports that show full  journal  entries:  print,
         import, close, rewrite etc.

       o It  shows  amounts  with their original journal precisions, which may
         not be consistent from one amount to the next.

       o It adds a trailing decimal mark when needed to avoid showing  ambigu-
         ous amounts.

       o It  can be parsed reliably (by hledger and ledger2beancount at least,
         but perhaps not by Ledger..)

       2.  "human-readable output" - usually for humans

       o This is produced by all other reports.

       o It shows amounts with standard display precisions, which will be con-
         sistent within each commodity.

       o It shows ambiguous amounts unmodified.

       o 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 sin-
         gle mark is a digit group mark).

       3.  "machine-readable output" - usually for other software

       o This  is produced by all reports when an output format like csv, tsv,
         json, or sql is selected.

       o It shows amounts as 1 or 2 do, but without digit group marks.

       o It can be parsed reliably (if needed, the decimal mark can be changed
         with -c/--commodity-style).

Cost reporting
       In some transactions - for example a currency conversion, or a purchase
       or sale of stock - one commodity is exchanged for  another.   In  these
       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.

   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:

       o It sacrifices some error checking.  For example, if you  accidentally
         wrote 10 instead of 100, hledger would not be able to detect the mis-
         take.

       o It  is  sensitive to the order of postings - if they were reversed, a
         different entry would be inferred and reports would be different.

       o The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.

       So generally this kind of entry is not recommended.  You can make  sure
       you have none of these by using -s (strict mode), or by running hledger
       check balanced.

   Reporting at cost
       Now  when  you  add the -B/--cost flag to reports ("B" is from Ledger's
       -B/--basis/--cost flag), any amounts which  have  been  annotated  with
       costs  will  be converted to their cost's commodity (in the report out-
       put).  Ie they will be displayed "at cost" or "at sale price".

       Some things to note:

       o Costs are attached to specific posting amounts in  specific  transac-
         tions,  and  once  recorded  they do not change.  This contrasts with
         market prices, which are ambient and fluctuating.

       o Conversion to cost is performed before  conversion  to  market  value
         (described below).

   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:

       o The per-unit cost basis is not easy to read.

       o Instead of -B you must remember to type -B --infer-costs.

       o --infer-costs works only where  hledger  can  identify  the  two  eq-
         uity:conversion  postings  and  match them up with the two non-equity
         postings.  So writing the journal entry in a  particular  format  be-
         comes more important.  More on this below.

   Inferring equity conversion postings
       Can we go in the other direction ?  Yes, if you have transactions writ-
       ten  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  "eq-
       uity: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  jour-
       nal, if you use check accounts or check --strict.

   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 - preserv-
       ing 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:

       o 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.

       o The add command does not yet accept this kind of entry (#2056).

       o This is the most verbose form.

   Requirements for detecting equity conversion postings
       --infer-costs has certain requirements  (unlike  --infer-equity,  which
       always works).  It will infer costs only in transactions with:

       o Two  non-equity  postings,  in different commodities.  Their order is
         significant: the cost will be added to the first of them.

       o 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 conver-
         sion posting's amount.  Equity conversion accounts are:

         o any accounts declared with account type V/Conversion, or their sub-
           accounts

         o otherwise, accounts named equity:conversion, equity:trade,  or  eq-
           uity:trading, or their subaccounts.

       And  multiple  such  four-posting  groups  can  coexist within a single
       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.

   Infer cost and equity by default ?
       Should --infer-costs and --infer-equity be enabled by  default  ?   Try
       using them always, eg with a shell alias:

              alias h="hledger --infer-equity --infer-costs"

       and let us know what problems you find.

Value reporting
       hledger  can  also  show  amounts  "at market value", converted to some
       other commodity using the market price or conversion rate on a  certain
       date.

       This  is  controlled  by  the --value=TYPE[,COMMODITY] option.  We also
       provide simpler -V and -X COMMODITY aliases for this, which  are  often
       sufficient.  The market prices are declared with a special P directive,
       and/or they can be inferred from the costs recorded in transactions, by
       using the --infer-market-prices flag.

   -X: Value in specified commodity
       The  -X COMM (or --exchange=COMM) option converts amounts to their mar-
       ket 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:

       o -X

       o -X$ (nothing after $, no quoting needed)

       o -X CNY (the space after -X is optional)

       o -X 'red apples'

       o -X 'r&r'

   -V: Value in default commodity(s)
       The -V/--market flag is a variant of -X where you don't have to specify
       COMM.  Instead it tries to guess a default valuation commodity for each
       original commodity, based on the market prices in effect on the  valua-
       tion date(s).

       -V  can  often  be a convenient shortcut for -X MYCURRENCY, but not al-
       ways; depending on your data it could guess multiple valuation commodi-
       ties.  Usually you want to convert to a single commodity, so it's  bet-
       ter to use -X, unless you're sure -V is doing what you want.

   Valuation date
       Market  prices can change from day to day.  hledger will use the prices
       on a particular valuation date (or on more than one date).  By  default
       hledger uses "end" dates for valuation.  More specifically:

       o For  single  period  reports (including normal print and register re-
         ports):

         o If an explicit report end date is specified, that is used.

         o Otherwise the latest transaction date  or  non-future  P  directive
           date is used.

       o For multiperiod reports, each period is valued on its last day.

       This  can  be customised with the --value option described below, which
       can select either "then", "end", "now", or "custom" dates.

   Finding market price
       To convert a commodity A to its market value in  another  commodity  B,
       hledger  looks  for a suitable market price (exchange rate) as follows,
       in this order of preference:

       1. A declared market price or inferred market price: A's latest  market
          price in B on or before the valuation date as declared by a P direc-
          tive, 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 com-
          bining the shortest chain of "forward" (only 1 above) market prices,
          leading from A to B.

       4. Any chain of market prices: a chain of any market prices,  including
          both  forward  and reverse prices (1 and 2 above), leading from A to
          B.

       There is a limit to the  length  of  these  price  chains;  if  hledger
       reaches  that length without finding a complete chain or exhausting all
       possibilities, it will give up (with a "gave  up"  message  visible  in
       --debug=2 output).  That limit is currently 1000.

       Amounts  for  which no suitable market price can be found, are not con-
       verted.

   --infer-market-prices: market prices from transactions
       Normally, market value in hledger is fully controlled by, and requires,
       P directives in your journal.  Since adding and updating those can be a
       chore, and since transactions usually take place  at  close  to  market
       value,  why  not use the recorded costs as additional market prices (as
       Ledger does) ?  Adding the --infer-market-prices  flag  to  -V,  -X  or
       --value enables this.

       So  for  example,  hledger  bs -V --infer-market-prices will get market
       prices both from P directives and from transactions.  If both occur  on
       the same day, the P directive takes precedence.

       There is a downside: value reports can sometimes be affected in confus-
       ing/undesired  ways  by  your journal entries.  If this happens to you,
       read all of this Value reporting  section  carefully,  and  try  adding
       --debug or --debug=2 to troubleshoot.

       --infer-market-prices can infer market prices from:

       o multicommodity transactions with explicit prices (@/@@)

       o multicommodity  transactions with implicit prices (no @, two commodi-
         ties, unbalanced).  (With  these,  the  order  of  postings  matters.
         hledger print -x can be useful for troubleshooting.)

       o 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:

       o -X EUR --infer-market-prices, not -V --infer-market-prices

       o --value=then,EUR --infer-market-prices, not --value=then --infer-mar-
         ket-prices

       Signed  costs  and market prices can be confusing.  For reference, here
       is the current behaviour, since hledger 1.25.  (If you think it  should
       work differently, see #1870.)

              2022-01-01 Positive Unit prices
                  a        A 1
                  b        B -1 @ A 1

              2022-01-01 Positive Total prices
                  a        A 1
                  b        B -1 @@ A 1


              2022-01-02 Negative unit prices
                  a        A 1
                  b        B 1 @ A -1

              2022-01-02 Negative total prices
                  a        A 1
                  b        B 1 @@ A -1


              2022-01-03 Double Negative unit prices
                  a        A -1
                  b        B -1 @ A -1

              2022-01-03 Double Negative total prices
                  a        A -1
                  b        B -1 @@ A -1

       All of the transactions above are considered balanced (and on each day,
       the  two  transactions are considered equivalent).  Here are the market
       prices inferred for B:

              $ hledger -f- --infer-market-prices prices
              P 2022-01-01 B A 1
              P 2022-01-01 B A 1.0
              P 2022-01-02 B A -1
              P 2022-01-02 B A -1.0
              P 2022-01-03 B A -1
              P 2022-01-03 B A -1.0

   Valuation commodity
       When you specify a valuation commodity (-X COMM or --value TYPE,COMM):
       hledger will convert all amounts to COMM, wherever it can find a  suit-
       able market price (including by reversing or chaining prices).

       When  you  leave  the  valuation  commodity  unspecified (-V or --value
       TYPE):
       For each commodity A, hledger picks a default  valuation  commodity  as
       follows, in this order of preference:

       1. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on
          or before valuation date.

       2. The price commodity from the latest P-declared market price for A on
          any  date.   (Allows  conversion  to proceed when there are inferred
          prices before the valuation date.)

       3. If there are no P directives at all (any commodity or date) and  the
          --infer-market-prices  flag  is  used:  the price commodity from the
          latest transaction-inferred price for A on or before valuation date.

       This means:

       o If you have P directives, they determine which  commodities  -V  will
         convert, and to what.

       o If  you have no P directives, and use the --infer-market-prices flag,
         costs determine it.

       Amounts for which no valuation commodity can  be  found  are  not  con-
       verted.

   --value: Flexible valuation
       -V and -X are special cases of the more general --value option:

               --value=TYPE[,COMM]  TYPE is then, end, now or YYYY-MM-DD.
                                    COMM is an optional commodity symbol.
                                    Shows amounts converted to:
                                    - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at posting dates
                                    - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at period end(s)
                                    - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using current market prices
                                    - default valuation commodity (or COMM) using market prices at some date

       The TYPE part selects cost or value and valuation date:

       --value=then
              Convert  amounts to their value in the default valuation commod-
              ity, using market prices on each posting's date.

       --value=end
              Convert amounts to their value in the default valuation  commod-
              ity,  using  market  prices on the last day of the report period
              (or if unspecified, the journal's end date); or  in  multiperiod
              reports, market prices on the last day of each subperiod.

       --value=now
              Convert  amounts to their value in the default valuation commod-
              ity using current market prices (as of  when  report  is  gener-
              ated).

       --value=YYYY-MM-DD
              Convert  amounts to their value in the default valuation commod-
              ity using market prices on this date.

       To select a different valuation commodity, add the optional ,COMM part:
       a comma, then the  target  commodity's  symbol.   Eg:  --value=now,EUR.
       hledger will do its best to convert amounts to this commodity, deducing
       market prices as described above.

   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

   Interaction of valuation and queries
       When matching postings based on queries in the presence  of  valuation,
       the following happens:

       1. The query is separated into two parts:

           1. the currency (cur:) or amount (amt:).

           2. all other parts.

       2. The postings are matched to the currency and amount queries based on
          pre-valued amounts.

       3. Valuation is applied to the postings.

       4. The  postings  are  matched to the other parts of the query based on
          post-valued amounts.

       Related: #1625

   Effect of valuation on reports
       Here is a reference for how valuation is supposed to affect  each  part
       of  hledger's  reports.  It may be useful when troubleshooting.  If you
       find problems, please report them, ideally with a reproducible example.
       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 subperi-
              ods).

       Report      -B, --cost     -V, -X         --value=then         --value=end    --value=DATE,
       type                                                                          --value=now
       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       print
       posting     cost           value at re-   value  at posting    value at re-   value      at
       amounts                    port end  or   date                 port      or   DATE/today
                                  today                               journal end
       balance     unchanged      unchanged      unchanged            unchanged      unchanged
       asser-
       tions/as-
       signments

       register
       starting    cost           value at re-   valued   at   day    value at re-   value      at
       balance                    port      or   each   historical    port      or   DATE/today
       (-H)                       journal end    posting was made     journal end
       starting    cost           value at day   valued   at   day    value at day   value      at
       balance                    before   re-   each   historical    before   re-   DATE/today
       (-H) with                  port      or   posting was made     port      or
       report                     journal                             journal
       interval                   start                               start
       posting     cost           value at re-   value  at posting    value at re-   value      at
       amounts                    port      or   date                 port      or   DATE/today
                                  journal end                         journal end
       summary     summarised     value at pe-   sum  of  postings    value at pe-   value      at
       posting     cost           riod ends      in interval, val-    riod ends      DATE/today
       amounts                                   ued  at  interval
       with  re-                                 start
       port  in-
       terval
       running     sum/average    sum/average    sum/average    of    sum/average    sum/average
       total/av-   of displayed   of displayed   displayed values     of displayed   of  displayed
       erage       values         values                              values         values

       balance
       (bs, bse,
       cf, is)
       balance     sums      of   value at re-   value  at posting    value at re-   value      at
       changes     costs          port end  or   date                 port      or   DATE/today of
                                  today     of                        journal  end   sums of post-
                                  sums      of                        of  sums  of   ings
                                  postings                            postings
       budget      like balance   like balance   like      balance    like    bal-   like  balance
       amounts     changes        changes        changes              ances          changes
       (--bud-
       get)
       grand to-   sum  of dis-   sum  of dis-   sum  of displayed    sum of  dis-   sum  of  dis-
       tal         played  val-   played  val-   valued               played  val-   played values
                   ues            ues                                 ues

       balance
       (bs, bse,
       cf,   is)
       with  re-
       port  in-
       terval
       starting    sums      of   value at re-   sums of values of    value at re-   sums of post-
       balances    costs     of   port   start   postings   before    port   start   ings   before
       (-H)        postings be-   of  sums  of   report  start  at    of  sums  of   report start
                   fore  report   all postings   respective  post-    all postings
                   start          before   re-   ing dates            before   re-
                                  port start                          port start
       balance     sums      of   same      as   sums of values of    balance        value      at
       changes     costs     of   --value=end    postings  in  pe-    change    in   DATE/today of
       (bal, is,   postings  in                  riod  at  respec-    each period,   sums of post-
       bs          period                        tive      posting    valued    at   ings
       --change,                                 dates                period ends
       cf
       --change)
       end  bal-   sums      of   same      as   sums of values of    period   end   value      at
       ances       costs     of   --value=end    postings from be-    balances,      DATE/today of
       (bal  -H,   postings                      fore period start    valued    at   sums of post-
       is   --H,   from  before                  to  period end at    period ends    ings
       bs, cf)     report start                  respective  post-
                   to    period                  ing dates
                   end
       budget      like balance   like balance   like      balance    like    bal-   like  balance
       amounts     changes/end    changes/end    changes/end  bal-    ances          changes/end
       (--bud-     balances       balances       ances                               balances
       get)
       row   to-   sums,  aver-   sums,  aver-   sums, averages of    sums,  aver-   sums,   aver-
       tals, row   ages of dis-   ages of dis-   displayed values     ages of dis-   ages of  dis-
       averages    played  val-   played  val-                        played  val-   played values
       (-T, -A)    ues            ues                                 ues
       column      sums of dis-   sums of dis-   sums of displayed    sums of dis-   sums of  dis-
       totals      played  val-   played  val-   values               played  val-   played values
                   ues            ues                                 ues
       grand to-   sum, average   sum, average   sum,  average  of    sum, average   sum,  average
       tal,        of    column   of    column   column totals        of    column   of column to-
       grand av-   totals         totals                              totals         tals
       erage


       --cumulative is omitted to save space, it works like -H but with a zero
       starting balance.

PART 4: COMMANDS
       Here are hledger's standard subcommands.  You can list these by running
       hledger.  If you have installed more add-on commands, they also will be
       listed.

       In the following command docs,  each  command's  specific  options  are
       shown.  Most commands also support the general options described above,
       though some of them might have no effect.  (Usually if there's a sensi-
       ble  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

       o commands - show the hledger commands list (default)

       o demo - show small hledger demos in the terminal

       o help - show the hledger manual with info, man, or pager

       User interface commands

       o repl - run commands from an interactive prompt

       o run - run commands from a script

       o ui - (if installed) run hledger's terminal UI

       o web - (if installed) run hledger's web UI

       Data entry commands

       o add - add transactions using terminal prompts

       o import - add new transactions from other files, eg CSV files

       Basic report commands

       o accounts - show account names

       o codes - show transaction codes

       o commodities - show commodity/currency symbols

       o descriptions - show transaction descriptions

       o files - show input file paths

       o notes - show note parts of transaction descriptions

       o payees - show payee parts of transaction descriptions

       o prices - show market prices

       o stats - show journal statistics

       o tags - show tag names

       Standard report commands

       o print - show transactions or export journal data

       o aregister (areg) - show transactions in a particular account

       o register (reg) - show postings in one or more accounts & running  to-
         tal

       o balancesheet (bs) - show assets, liabilities and net worth

       o balancesheetequity (bse) - show assets, liabilities and equity

       o cashflow (cf) - show changes in liquid assets

       o incomestatement (is) - show revenues and expenses

       Advanced report commands

       o balance (bal) - show balance changes, end balances, budgets, gains..

       o roi - show return on investments

       Chart commands

       o activity - show bar charts of posting counts per period

       Data generation commands

       o close - generate balance-zeroing/restoring transactions

       o rewrite - generate auto postings, like print --auto

       Maintenance commands

       o check - check for various kinds of error in the data

       o diff - compare account transactions in two journal files

       o setup - check and show the status of the hledger installation

       o test - run self tests

       Next, these commands are described in detail.

Help commands
   commands
       Show the hledger commands list.

              Flags:
                   --builtin             show only builtin commands, not addons

   demo
       Play demos of hledger usage in the terminal, if asciinema is installed.

              Flags:
                -s --speed=SPEED         playback speed (1 is original speed, .5 is half, 2
                                         is double, etc (default: 2))

       Run  this  command with no argument to list the demos.  To play a demo,
       write its number or a prefix or substring of its title.  Tips:

       Make your terminal window large enough to see the demo clearly.

       Use the -s/--speed SPEED option to set your preferred  playback  speed,
       eg -s4 to play at 4x original speed or -s.5 to play at half speed.  The
       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.

   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 exe-
       cutable.  It can be useful when offline, or when you prefer the  termi-
       nal 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  speci-
       fied,  $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 pre-
       fix match, you can write 'TOPIC.*'.

       Examples

              $ hledger help -h                 # show the help command's usage
              $ hledger help                    # show the manual with info, man or $PAGER
              $ hledger help 'time periods'     # show the manual's "Time periods" topic
              $ hledger help 'time periods' -m  # use man, even if info is installed

User interface commands
   repl
       Start an interactive prompt, where you can run any  of  hledger's  com-
       mands.  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 com-
       mands  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:

       o enter  one hledger command at a time, without the usual hledger first
         word

       o empty lines and comment text from # to end of line are ignored

       o use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed

       o 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:

       o Keypad or Emacs navigation keys to edit the current command line

       o UP/DOWN or control-P/control-N to step back/forward through history

       o control-R to search for a past command

       o TAB to complete file paths.

       Generally  repl  command lines should feel much like the normal hledger
       CLI, but you may find differences.  repl is a little  stricter;  eg  it
       requires  full  command names or official abbreviations (as seen in the
       commands list).

       The commands and help commands, and the command help flags (CMD --tldr,
       CMD -h/--help, CMD --info, CMD --man), can be useful.

       You can type control-C to cancel a long-running command (but only once;
       typing it a second time will exit the REPL).

       And in most shells you can type control-Z to temporarily  exit  to  the
       shell (and then fg to return to the REPL).

   Examples
       Start the REPL and enter some commands:

              $ hledger repl
              Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.
              % stats
              Main file           : .../2025.journal
              ...
              % stats -f 2024/2024.journal
              Main file           : .../2024.journal
              ...
              % stats
              Main file           : .../2025.journal
              ...

       or:

              $ hledger repl -f some.journal
              Enter hledger commands. To exit, enter 'quit' or 'exit', or send EOF.
              % bs
              ...
              % print -b 'last week'
              ...
              % bs -f other.journal
              ...

   run
       Run  a  sequence of hledger commands, provided as files or command line
       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:

       o hledger  run -- CMD1 -- CMD2 -- CMD3 - read commands from the command
         line, separated by --

       o hledger run SCRIPTFILE1 SCRIPTFILE2 - read commands from one or  more
         files

       o cat SCRIPTFILE1 | hledger run - read commands from standard input.

       run first loads the input file(s) specified by LEDGER_FILE or by -f op-
       tions, in the usual way.  Then it runs each command in turn, each using
       the  same input data.  But if you want a particular command to use dif-
       ferent 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 in-
       put  options)  is  parsed only once.  This means that commands will not
       see any changes made to these files, until the next run.  But the  com-
       mands  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:

       o each line may contain a single hledger  command  and  its  arguments,
         without the usual hledger first word

       o empty lines are ignored

       o text from # to end of line is a comment, and ignored

       o you  can  use single or double quotes to quote arguments when needed,
         as on the command line

       o 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  re-
       quires  full  command  names  or official abbreviations (as seen in the
       commands list), and command options must be written after  the  command
       name.

   Examples
       Run commands from the command line:

              hledger -f some.journal run -- balance assets --depth 2 -- balance liabilities -f /some/other.journal --depth 3 --transpose -- stats

       This  would load some.journal, run balance assets --depth 2 on it, then
       run balance liabilities --depth 3 --transpose  on  /some/other.journal,
       and 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
              ...

   ui
       Runs hledger-ui (if installed).

   web
       Runs hledger-web (if installed).

Data entry commands
   add
       Add new transactions to a journal file, with interactive prompting.

              Flags:
                   --no-new-accounts      don't allow creating new accounts

       Many  hledger users edit their journals directly with a text editor, or
       generate them from CSV.  For more interactive data entry, there is  the
       add  command, which prompts interactively on the console for new trans-
       actions, and appends them to the 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:

       o add tries to provide useful defaults, using the most similar (by  de-
         scription)  recent  transaction  (filtered by the query, if any) as a
         template.

       o You can also set the initial defaults with command line arguments.

       o Readline-style edit keys can be used during data entry.

       o The tab key will auto-complete whenever  possible  -  accounts,  pay-
         ees/descriptions,  dates  (yesterday, today, tomorrow).  If the input
         area is empty, it will insert the default value.

       o A parenthesised transaction code may be entered following a date.

       o Comments and tags may be entered following a description or amount.

       o If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.

       o Input prompts are displayed in a different colour when  the  terminal
         supports it.

       Notes:

       o 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 re-
         peated on amounts in the journal.

       o add creates entries in journal format; it won't work  with  timeclock
         or timedot files.

       Examples:

       o Record new transactions, saving to the default journal file:

         hledger add

       o Add transactions to 2024.journal, but also load 2023.journal for com-
         pletions:

         hledger add --file 2024.journal --file 2023.journal

       o Provide answers for the first four prompts:

         hledger add today 'best buy' expenses:supplies '$20'

       There is a detailed tutorial at https://hledger.org/add.html.

   add and balance assertions
       Since hledger 1.43, you can add a balance assertion by writing AMOUNT =
       BALANCE when asked for an amount.  Eg 100 = 500.

       Also,  each  time you enter a new amount, hledger re-checks all balance
       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 dis-
       able balance assertion checking.

   add and balance assignments
       Since hledger 1.51, you can add a balance assignment by writing =  BAL-
       ANCE (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.

   import
       Import new transactions from one or more data files to the  main  jour-
       nal.

              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 speci-
       fied 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 speci-
       fied 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

   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  transac-
       tions 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  jour-
       nal, perhaps with some manual fixups to follow, you would do the actual
       import:

              $ hledger import bank.csv

   Overlap detection
       Reading  CSV  files is built in to hledger, and not specific to import;
       so  you  could  also  import  by  doing  hledger  -f   bank.csv   print
       >>$LEDGER_FILE.

       But  import  is  easier  and provides some advantages.  The main one is
       that it avoids re-importing transactions it has seen on previous  runs.
       This means you don't have to worry about overlapping data in successive
       downloads  of  your  bank CSV; just download and import as often as you
       like, and only the new transactions will be imported each time.

       We don't call this "deduplication", as it's generally not  possible  to
       reliably  detect duplicates in bank CSV.  Instead, import remembers the
       latest date processed previously in each CSV file (saving it in a  hid-
       den  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:

       o For each FILE being imported from:

         1. hledger  reads  a  file named .latest.FILE file in the same direc-
            tory, if any.  This file contains the latest  record  date  previ-
            ously  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.

       o 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:

       o You'll  notice  it  before  import  when  you  preview  with   import
         --dry-run.

       o Or  after  import when you try to reconcile your hledger account bal-
         ances with your bank.

       o hledger print -f FILE.csv will show all recently downloaded  transac-
         tions.  Compare these with your journal.  Copy/paste if needed.

       o Update your conversion rules and print again, if needed.

       o You  can  manually  update  or remove the .latest file, or use import
         --catchup FILE.

       o Download and import more often, eg twice a week, at least  while  you
         are  learning.  It's easier to review and troubleshoot when there are
         fewer transactions.

   First import
       The first time you import from a file, when  no  corresponding  .latest
       file has been created yet, all of the records will be imported.

       But  perhaps you have been entering the data manually, so you know that
       all of these transactions are already recorded in the journal.  In this
       case you can run hledger import --catchup once.   This  will  create  a
       .latest  file  containing  the  latest CSV record date, so that none of
       those records will be re-imported.

       Or, if you know that some but not all of the transactions  are  in  the
       journal,  you  can create the .latest file yourself.  Eg, let's say you
       previously recorded foobank transactions up to 2024-10-31 in the  jour-
       nal.   Then  in  the  directory where you'll be saving foobank.csv, you
       would create a .latest.foobank.csv file containing

              2024-10-31

       Or if you had three foobank transactions recorded with that  date,  you
       would repeat the date that many times:

              2024-10-31
              2024-10-31
              2024-10-31

       Then  hledger import foobank.csv [--dry-run] will import only the newer
       records.

   Importing balance assignments
       Journal entries added by import will have all posting amounts made  ex-
       plicit (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.)

   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  direc-
       tives or inferred from the journal's amounts.

       Related: CSV > Amount decimal places.

   Import archiving
       When  importing  from a CSV rules file (hledger import bank.rules), you
       can use the archive rule to enable  automatic  archiving  of  the  data
       file.   After  a successful import, the data file (specified by source)
       will be moved to an archive folder (data/,  next  to  the  rules  file,
       auto-created),  and  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 dif-
       ferently:  when there are multiple matched files, it will pick the old-
       est, not the newest.

   Import special cases
   Deduplication
       Here are two kinds of "deduplication" which import does not handle (and
       should not, because these can happen legitimately in financial data):

       o Two or more of the new CSV records are identical, and generate  iden-
         tical new journal entries.

       o A  new  CSV  record generates a journal entry identical to one(s) al-
         ready in the journal.

   Varying file name
       If you have a download whose file name varies, you could rename it to a
       fixed name after each download.  Or you could use  a  CSV  source  rule
       with a suitable glob pattern, and import from the .rules file.

   Multiple versions
       Say you download bank.csv, import it, but forget to delete it from your
       downloads folder.  The next time you download it, your web browser will
       save  it as (eg) bank (2).csv.  The source rule's glob patterns are for
       just this situation: instead of  specifying  source  bank.csv,  specify
       source  bank*.csv.   Then  hledger  -f bank.rules CMD or hledger import
       bank.rules will  automatically  pick  the  newest  matched  file  (bank
       (2).csv).

       Alternately, what if you download, but forget to import or delete, then
       download  again  ?  Now each of bank.csv and bank (2).csv might contain
       data that's not in the other, and not in your journal.  In  this  case,
       it's  best  to  import  each  of them in turn, oldest first (otherwise,
       overlap detection could cause new records to be skipped).  Enabling im-
       port archiving ensures this.  Then hledger import  bank.rules;  hledger
       import  bank.rules  will  import  and archive first bank.csv, then bank
       (2).csv.

Basic report commands
   accounts
       List the account names used or declared in the journal.

              Flags:
                -u --used                 list accounts used
                -d --declared             list accounts declared
                   --undeclared           list accounts used but not declared
                   --unused               list accounts declared but not used
                   --find                 list the first account matched by the first
                                          argument (a case-insensitive infix regexp)
                   --directives           show as account directives, for use in journals
                   --locations            also show where accounts were declared
                   --types                also show account types when known
                -l --flat                 list/tree mode: show accounts as a flat list
                                          (default)
                -t --tree                 list/tree mode: show accounts as a tree
                   --drop=N               flat mode: omit N leading account name parts

       This command lists account names - all of them by default, or just  the
       ones which have been used in transactions (-u/--used), or declared with
       account  directives  (-d/--declared), or used but not declared (--unde-
       clared), 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  ac-
       counts.

       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 ac-
       counts.

       With --locations, it also shows the file and line number  of  each  ac-
       count's  declaration, if any, and the account's overall declaration or-
       der; 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

   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

   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 de-
       clared 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.

   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 trans-
       actions.

       Example:

              $ hledger descriptions
              Store Name
              Gas Station | Petrol
              Person A

   files
       List all files included in the journal.  With a  REGEX  argument,  only
       file names matching the regular expression (case sensitive) are shown.

              Flags:
              no command-specific flags

   notes
       List the unique notes that appear in transactions.

              Flags:
              no command-specific flags

       This command lists the unique notes that appear in transactions, in al-
       phabetic  order.   You  can  add a query to select a subset of transac-
       tions.  The note is the part of the transaction description after  a  |
       character (or if there is no |, the whole description).

       Example:

              $ hledger notes
              Petrol
              Snacks

   payees
       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  pay-
       ees.

       Example:

              $ hledger payees
              Store Name
              Gas Station
              Person A

   prices
       Print  the market prices declared with P directives.  With --infer-mar-
       ket-prices, also show any additional prices inferred from costs.   With
       --show-reverse, also show additional prices inferred by reversing known
       prices.

              Flags:
                   --show-reverse         also show the prices inferred by reversing known
                                          prices

       Price  amounts  are  always displayed with their full precision, except
       for reverse prices which are limited to 8 decimal digits.

       Prices can be filtered by a date:, cur: or amt: query.

       Generally if you run this command with --infer-market-prices --show-re-
       verse, it will show the same prices used internally to calculate  value
       reports.   But  if  in doubt, you can inspect those directly by running
       the value report with --debug=2.

   stats
       Show journal and performance statistics.

              Flags:
                -1                        show a single line of output
                -v --verbose              show more detailed output
                -o --output-file=FILE     write output to FILE.

       The stats command shows summary information for the whole journal, or a
       matched part of it.  With a reporting interval, it shows a  report  for
       each report period.

       It also shows some performance statistics:

       o how long the program ran for

       o the number of transactions processed per second

       o the peak live memory in use by the program to do its work

       o 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/--out-
       put-format).

   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,  return-
       ing a non-zero exit code if it fails).

       Note  this command's non-standard first argument: it is a case-insensi-
       tive 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.

Standard report commands
   print
       Show full journal entries, representing transactions.

              Flags:
                -x --explicit             show all amounts explicitly
                   --invert               display all amounts with reversed sign
                   --locations            add tags showing file paths and line numbers
                -m --match=DESC           fuzzy search for one recent transaction with
                                          description closest to DESC
                   --new                  show only newer-dated transactions added in each
                                          file since last run
                   --round=TYPE           how much rounding or padding should be done when
                                          displaying amounts ?
                                          none - show original decimal digits,
                                                 as in journal (default)
                                          soft - just add or remove decimal zeros
                                                 to match precision
                                          hard - round posting amounts to precision
                                                 (can unbalance transactions)
                                          all  - also round cost amounts to precision
                                                 (can unbalance transactions)
                   --base-url=URLPREFIX   in html output, generate links to hledger-web,
                                          with this prefix. (Usually the base url shown by
                                          hledger-web; can also be relative.)
                -O --output-format=FMT    select the output format. Supported formats:
                                          txt, beancount, csv, tsv, html, fods, json, sql.
                -o --output-file=FILE     write output to FILE. A file extension matching
                                          one of the above formats selects that format.

       The print command displays full journal entries (transactions) from the
       journal file, sorted by date (or with --date2, by secondary date).

       Directives and inter-transaction comments  are  not  shown,  currently.
       This means the print command is somewhat lossy, and if you are using it
       to  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

   print amount explicitness
       Normally, whether posting amounts are  implicit  or  explicit  is  pre-
       served.  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 mak-
       ing 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  im-
       plicit  amount)  to  be  split into multiple single-commodity postings,
       keeping the output parseable.

   print alignment
       Amounts are  shown  right-aligned  within  each  transaction  (but  not
       aligned  across all transactions; you can achieve that with ledger-mode
       in Emacs).

   print amount style
       Amounts will be displayed mostly in their  commodity's  display  style,
       with  standardised  symbol  placement,  decimal  mark,  and digit group
       marks.  This does not apply to their  decimal  digits;  print  normally
       shows the same 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 commodi-
       ties' standard decimal precisions, increasingly strongly:

       o --round=none show amounts with original precisions (default)

       o --round=soft add/remove decimal zeros in amounts (except costs)

       o --round=hard round amounts (except costs), possibly  hiding  signifi-
         cant digits

       o --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.

   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  un-
       parseable:

       o --round (see above) can disrupt transaction balancing.

       o Account aliases or pivoting can disrupt account names, balance asser-
         tions, or balance assignments.

       o Value  reporting  also  can disrupt balance assertions or balance as-
         signments.

       o Auto postings can generate too many amountless postings.

       o --infer-costs or --infer-equity can  generate  too-complex  redundant
         costs.

       o Because print always shows transactions in date order, balance asser-
         tions involving non-date-ordered transactions (and same-day postings)
         could be disrupted.

   print, other features
       With -B/--cost, amounts with costs are shown converted to cost.

       With  --invert,  posting amounts are shown with their sign flipped.  It
       could be useful if you have  accidentally  recorded  some  transactions
       with the wrong signs.

       With --new, print shows only transactions it has not seen on a previous
       run.   This  uses  the same deduplication system as the import command.
       (See import's docs for details.)

       With -m DESC/--match=DESC, print shows one recent transaction whose de-
       scription is most similar to DESC.  DESC should contain  at  least  two
       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.

   print output format
       This command also supports the output destination and output format op-
       tions  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:

       o Transaction  and  postings  with  unmarked  status  are  converted to
         cleared (*) status.

       o Transactions'  payee  and  note  are   backslash-escaped   and   dou-
         ble-quote-escaped and wrapped in double quotes.

       o Transaction tags are copied to Beancount #tag format.

       o Commodity  symbols are converted to upper case, and a small number of
         currency symbols like $ are converted to the  corresponding  currency
         names.

       o Account name parts are capitalised and unsupported characters are re-
         placed with -.  If an account name part does not begin with a letter,
         or  if  the first part is not Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income, or
         Expenses, an error is raised.  (Use --alias options to bring your ac-
         counts into compliance.)

       o An open directive is generated for each account used, on the earliest
         transaction date.

       Some limitations:

       o Balance assertions are removed.

       o Balance assignments become missing amounts.

       o Virtual and balanced virtual postings become regular postings.

       o 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","","",""

       o There is one CSV record per posting, with  the  parent  transaction's
         fields repeated.

       o The "txnidx" (transaction index) field shows which postings belong to
         the  same transaction.  (This number might change if transactions are
         reordered within the file, files are parsed/included in  a  different
         order, etc.)

       o The  amount  is  separated into "commodity" (the symbol) and "amount"
         (numeric quantity) fields.

       o The numeric amount is repeated in either the "credit" or "debit" col-
         umn, for convenience.  (Those names are not accurate in the  account-
         ing  sense;  it  just  puts negative amounts under credit and zero or
         greater amounts under debit.)

   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
                   --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:

       o aregister is best when  reconciling  real-world  asset/liability  ac-
         counts

       o 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  as-
       sets: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  run-
       ning balance.

       An  example: this shows the transactions and historical running balance
       during july, in the first account whose name contains "checking":

              $ hledger areg checking date:jul

       Each aregister line item shows:

       o the transaction's date (or the relevant posting's date if  different,
         see below)

       o the  names  of  all the other account(s) involved in this transaction
         (probably abbreviated)

       o the total change to this account's balance from this transaction

       o the account's historical running balance after this transaction.

       Transactions making a net change of zero are not shown by default;  add
       the -E/--empty flag to show them.

       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 op-
       tions.  The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32),
       html, fods (Added in 1.41) and json.

   aregister and posting dates
       aregister always shows one line (and date and amount) per  transaction.
       But  sometimes  transactions have postings with different dates.  Also,
       not all of a transaction's postings may be within  the  report  period.
       To resolve this, aregister shows the earliest of the transaction's date
       and posting dates that is in-period, and the sum of the in-period post-
       ings.   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.

   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
                   --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 --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  ac-
       count and one commodity.

       The  --related/-r  flag shows the other postings in the transactions of
       the postings which would normally be shown.

       The --invert flag negates all amounts.  For example, it can be used  on
       an income account where amounts are normally displayed as negative num-
       bers.   It's  also  useful to show postings on the checking account to-
       gether 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 sepa-
       rated  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  transac-
       tions ordered from smallest amount to largest amount.

              $ hledger register --related --invert assets:checking

       With a reporting interval, register shows summary postings, one per in-
       terval, 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  op-
       tion 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  in-
       tervals.   This  ensures  that  the  first  and last intervals are full
       length and comparable to the others in the report.

       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 post-
       ing will be shown and the program exit code will be non-zero.

   Custom register output
       register  normally  uses  the  full terminal width (or 80 columns if it
       can't detect that).  You can override this with the --width/-w option.

       The description and account columns normally share  the  space  equally
       (about half of (width - 40) each).  You can adjust this by adding a de-
       scription 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 op-
       tions  The  output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32),
       and json.

   balancesheet
       (bs)

       Show the end balances in asset and  liability  accounts.   Amounts  are
       shown  with  normal  positive sign, as in conventional financial state-
       ments.

              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  bal-
       ances 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 sup-
       ports  many  of  that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
       It is similar to  hledger  balance  -H  assets  liabilities,  but  with
       smarter  account  detection,  and liabilities displayed with their sign
       flipped.

       This command also supports the output destination and output format op-
       tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added  in  1.32),
       html, and json.

   balancesheetequity
       (bse)

       This  command  displays a balance sheet, showing historical ending bal-
       ances 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 in-
       sensitive, 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 sup-
       ports many of that command's features, such  as  multi-period  reports.
       It is similar to hledger balance -H assets liabilities equity, but with
       smarter  account detection, and liabilities/equity displayed with their
       sign flipped.

       This 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  rev-
       enues  and  expenses  with  equity, and perhaps added --infer-equity to
       balance your commodity conversions).

       This command also supports the output destination and output format op-
       tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv, html, and json.

   cashflow
       (cf)

       This command displays a (simple) cashflow statement,  showing  the  in-
       flows  and  outflows  affecting "cash" (ie, liquid, easily convertible)
       assets.  Amounts are shown with normal positive  sign,  as  in  conven-
       tional 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

       o under a top-level account named asset (case insensitive,  plural  al-
         lowed)

       o whose name contains some variation of cash, bank, checking or saving.

       More precisely: all accounts matching this case insensitive regular ex-
       pression:

       ^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 sup-
       ports  many  of  that command's features, such as multi-period reports.
       It is  similar  to  hledger  balance  assets  not:fixed  not:investment
       not:receivable, but with smarter account detection.

       This command also supports the output destination and output format op-
       tions  The  output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32),
       html, and json.

   incomestatement
       (is)

       Show revenue inflows and expense outflows  during  the  report  period.
       Amounts  are shown with normal positive sign, as in conventional finan-
       cial 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  ex-
       penses during one or more periods.

       It  shows  accounts  declared with the Revenue or Expense type (see ac-
       count 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 sup-
       ports many of that command's features, such  as  multi-period  reports.
       It is similar to hledger balance '(revenues|income)' expenses, but with
       smarter  account  detection,  and  revenues/income displayed with their
       sign flipped.

       This command also supports the output destination and output format op-
       tions The output formats supported are txt, csv, tsv (Added  in  1.32),
       html, and json.

Advanced report commands
   balance
       (bal)

       A  flexible,  general purpose "summing" report that shows accounts with
       some kind of numeric data.  This can be balance changes per period, end
       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 de-
       faults, which are simpler  to  use:  balancesheet,  balancesheetequity,
       cashflow  and  incomestatement.   When  you need more control, then use
       balance.

   balance features
       Here's a quick overview of the balance command's features, followed  by
       more  detailed  descriptions and examples.  Many of these work with the
       other balance-like commands as well (bs, cf, is..).

       balance can show..

       o accounts as a list (-l) or a tree (-t)

       o optionally depth-limited (-[1-9])

       o sorted by declaration order and name, or by amount

       ..and their..

       o balance changes (the default)

       o or actual and planned balance changes (--budget)

       o or value of balance changes (-V)

       o or change of balance values (--valuechange)

       o or unrealised capital gain/loss (--gain)

       o or balance changes from sibling postings (--related/-r)

       o or postings count (--count)

       ..in..

       o one time period (the whole journal period by default)

       o or multiple periods (-D, -W, -M, -Q, -Y, -p INTERVAL)

       ..either..

       o per period (the default)

       o or accumulated since report start date (--cumulative)

       o or accumulated since account creation (--historical/-H)

       ..possibly converted to..

       o cost (--value=cost[,COMM]/--cost/-B)

       o or market value, as of transaction dates (--value=then[,COMM])

       o or at period ends (--value=end[,COMM])

       o or now (--value=now)

       o or at some other date (--value=YYYY-MM-DD)

       ..with..

       o totals (-T), averages (-A), percentages (-%),  inverted  sign  (--in-
         vert)

       o rows and columns swapped (--transpose)

       o another field used as account name (--pivot)

       o custom-formatted line items (single-period reports only) (--format)

       o commodities displayed on the same line or multiple lines (--layout)

       This command supports the output destination and output format options,
       with output formats txt, csv, tsv (Added in 1.32), json, and (multi-pe-
       riod  reports  only:)  html,  fods (Added in 1.40).  In txt output in a
       colour-supporting terminal, negative amounts are shown in red.

   Simple balance report
       With no arguments, balance shows a  list  of  all  accounts  and  their
       change  of  balance  - ie, the sum of posting amounts, both inflows and
       outflows - during the entire period of  the  journal.   ("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  bal-
       ance at the end of the journal period; more on this below.

       Accounts  are  sorted  by declaration order if any, and then alphabeti-
       cally by account name.  For instance (using examples/sample.journal):

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal
                                $1  assets:bank:saving
                               $-2  assets:cash
                                $1  expenses:food
                                $1  expenses:supplies
                               $-1  income:gifts
                               $-1  income:salary
                                $1  liabilities:debts
              --------------------
                                 0

       Accounts with a zero balance (and no non-zero subaccounts, in tree mode
       - see below) are hidden by default.  Use -E/--empty to show  them  (re-
       vealing assets:bank:checking here):

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal  -E
                                 0  assets:bank:checking
                                $1  assets:bank:saving
                               $-2  assets:cash
                                $1  expenses:food
                                $1  expenses:supplies
                               $-1  income:gifts
                               $-1  income:salary
                                $1  liabilities:debts
              --------------------
                                 0

       The  total  of  the amounts displayed is shown as the last line, unless
       -N/--no-total is used.

   Balance report line format
       For single-period balance reports displayed in the terminal (only), you
       can use --format FMT to customise the format and content of each  line.
       Eg:

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance --format "%20(account) %12(total)"
                            assets          $-1
                       bank:saving           $1
                              cash          $-2
                          expenses           $2
                              food           $1
                          supplies           $1
                            income          $-2
                             gifts          $-1
                            salary          $-1
                 liabilities:debts           $1
              ---------------------------------
                                              0

       The  FMT  format  string  specifies  the formatting applied to each ac-
       count/balance pair.  It may contain any suitable text, with data fields
       interpolated like so:

       %[MIN][.MAX](FIELDNAME)

       o MIN pads with spaces to at least this width (optional)

       o MAX truncates at this width (optional)

       o FIELDNAME must be enclosed in parentheses, and can be one of:

         o depth_spacer - a number of spaces equal to the account's depth,  or
           if MIN is specified, MIN * depth spaces.

         o account - the account's name

         o total - the account's balance/posted total, right justified

       Also,  FMT  can begin with an optional prefix to control how multi-com-
       modity amounts are rendered:

       o %_ - render on multiple lines, bottom-aligned (the default)

       o %^ - render on multiple lines, top-aligned

       o %, - render on one line, comma-separated

       There are some quirks.  Eg in one-line mode, %(depth_spacer) has no ef-
       fect, instead %(account) has indentation  built  in.    Experimentation
       may be needed to get pleasing results.

       Some example formats:

       o %(total) - the account's total

       o %-20.20(account)  -  the account's name, left justified, padded to 20
         characters and clipped at 20 characters

       o %,%-50(account)  %25(total) - account name padded to  50  characters,
         total  padded to 20 characters, with multiple commodities rendered on
         one line

       o %20(total)  %2(depth_spacer)%-(account) - the default format for  the
         single-column balance report

   Filtered balance report
       You  can  show  fewer  accounts,  a  different time period, totals from
       cleared transactions only, etc.  by using query arguments or options to
       limit the postings being matched.  Eg:

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --cleared assets date:200806
                               $-2  assets:cash
              --------------------
                               $-2

   List or tree mode
       By default, or with -l/--flat, accounts are shown as a flat  list  with
       their full names visible, as in the examples above.

       With  -t/--tree,  the  account  hierarchy  is  shown, with subaccounts'
       "leaf" names indented below their parent:

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance
                               $-1  assets
                                $1    bank:saving
                               $-2    cash
                                $2  expenses
                                $1    food
                                $1    supplies
                               $-2  income
                               $-1    gifts
                               $-1    salary
                                $1  liabilities:debts
              --------------------
                                 0

       Notes:

       o "Boring" accounts are combined with their subaccount for more compact
         output, unless --no-elide is used.  Boring accounts have  no  balance
         of  their own and just one subaccount (eg assets:bank and liabilities
         above).

       o All balances shown are "inclusive", ie including  the  balances  from
         all  subaccounts.   Note  this  means  some repetition in the output,
         which requires explanation when sharing reports with non-plaintextac-
         counting-users.  A tree mode report's final total is the sum  of  the
         top-level balances shown, not of all the balances shown.

       o Each  group of sibling accounts (ie, under a common parent) is sorted
         separately.

   Depth limiting
       With a depth:NUM query, or --depth NUM option, or just  -NUM  (eg:  -3)
       balance  reports will show accounts only to the specified depth, hiding
       the deeper subaccounts.  This can be useful  for  getting  an  overview
       without too much detail.

       Account  balances  at  the depth limit always include the balances from
       any deeper subaccounts (even in list mode).  Eg, limiting to depth 1:

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal balance -1
                               $-1  assets
                                $2  expenses
                               $-2  income
                                $1  liabilities
              --------------------
                                 0

   Dropping top-level accounts
       You can also hide one or  more  top-level  account  name  parts,  using
       --drop NUM.  This can be useful for hiding repetitive top-level account
       names:

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal expenses --drop 1
                                $1  food
                                $1  supplies
              --------------------
                                $2

   Showing declared accounts
       With  --declared, accounts which have been declared with an account di-
       rective 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  re-
       port, even when you don't have transactions in all of your declared ac-
       counts yet.

   Sorting by amount
       With  -S/--sort-amount,  accounts with the largest (most positive) bal-
       ances are shown first.   Eg:  hledger  bal  expenses  -MAS  shows  your
       biggest  averaged monthly expenses first.  When more than one commodity
       is present, they will be sorted by the alphabetically earliest  commod-
       ity  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 --in-
       vert to flip the signs.  Or you could use one of the higher-level  bal-
       ance reports (bs, is..), which flip the sign automatically (eg: hledger
       is -MAS).

   Percentages
       With  -%/--percent, balance reports show each account's value expressed
       as a percentage of the (column) total.

       Note it is not useful to calculate percentages if the amounts in a col-
       umn have mixed signs.  In this case, make a separate  report  for  each
       sign, eg:

              $ hledger bal -% amt:`>0`
              $ hledger bal -% amt:`<0`

       Similarly,  if  the amounts in a column have mixed commodities, convert
       them to one commodity with -B, -V, -X or --value, or  make  a  separate
       report for each commodity:

              $ hledger bal -% cur:\\$
              $ hledger bal -% cur:

   Multi-period balance report
       With   a   report   interval   (set  by  the  -D/--daily,  -W/--weekly,
       -M/--monthly, -Q/--quarterly, -Y/--yearly, or -p/--period  flag),  bal-
       ance  shows a tabular report, with columns representing successive time
       periods (and a title):

              $ hledger -f examples/sample.journal bal --quarterly income expenses -E
              Balance changes in 2008:

                                 ||  2008q1  2008q2  2008q3  2008q4
              ===================++=================================
               expenses:food     ||       0      $1       0       0
               expenses:supplies ||       0      $1       0       0
               income:gifts      ||       0     $-1       0       0
               income:salary     ||     $-1       0       0       0
              -------------------++---------------------------------
                                 ||     $-1      $1       0       0

       Notes:

       o The report's start/end dates will be expanded, if necessary, to fully
         encompass the displayed subperiods (so that the first and last subpe-
         riods have the same duration as the others).

       o Leading and trailing periods (columns) containing all zeroes are  not
         shown, unless -E/--empty is used.

       o Accounts   (rows)   containing  all  zeroes  are  not  shown,  unless
         -E/--empty is used.

       o Amounts with many commodities are shown in abbreviated  form,  unless
         --no-elide is used.

       o Average  and/or  total columns can be added with the -A/--average and
         -T/--row-total flags.

       o The --transpose flag can be used to exchange rows and columns.

       o The --pivot FIELD option causes a different transaction field  to  be
         used as "account name".  See PIVOTING.

       o The  --summary-only flag (--summary also works) hides all but the To-
         tal 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:

       o Hide the totals row with -N/--no-total

       o Filter to a single currency with cur:

       o Convert to a single currency with -V [--infer-market-price]

       o Use a more compact layout like --layout=bare

       o Maximize the terminal window

       o Reduce the terminal's font size

       o View with a pager like less, eg: hledger bal -D  --color=yes  |  less
         -RS

       o Output  as  CSV and use a CSV viewer like visidata (hledger bal -D -O
         csv | vd -f csv), Emacs' csv-mode  (M-x  csv-mode,  C-c  C-a),  or  a
         spreadsheet (hledger bal -D -o a.csv && open a.csv)

       o Output  as  HTML and view with a browser: hledger bal -D -o a.html &&
         open a.html

   Balance change, end balance
       It's important to be clear on the meaning of the numbers shown in  bal-
       ance reports.  Here is some terminology we use:

       A  balance  change  is the net amount added to, or removed from, an ac-
       count during some period.

       An end balance is the amount accumulated in an account as of some  date
       (and  some  time,  but hledger doesn't store that; assume end of day in
       your timezone).  It is the sum of previous balance changes.

       We call it a historical end balance if it includes all balance  changes
       since the account was created.  For a real world account, this means it
       will  match  the  "historical record", eg the balances reported in your
       bank statements or bank web UI.  (If they are correct!)

       In general, balance changes are what you want  to  see  when  reviewing
       revenues and expenses, and historical end balances are what you want to
       see when reviewing or reconciling asset, liability and equity accounts.

       balance  shows  balance changes by default.  To see accurate historical
       end balances:

       1. Initialise account starting  balances  with  an  "opening  balances"
          transaction  (a  transfer  from  equity  to the account), unless the
          journal covers the account's full lifetime.

       2. Include all of of the account's prior postings in the report, by not
          specifying a report start date,  or  by  using  the  -H/--historical
          flag.  (-H causes report start date to be ignored when summing post-
          ings.)

   Balance report 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 ex-
       perimentation to get familiar with all the report modes.

       There are three important option groups:

       hledger balance  [CALCULATIONMODE]  [ACCUMULATIONMODE]  [VALUATIONMODE]
       ...

   Calculation mode
       The basic calculation to perform for each table cell.  It is one of:

       o --sum : sum the posting amounts (default)

       o --budget : sum the amounts, but also show the budget goal amount (for
         each account/period)

       o --valuechange : show the change in period-end historical balance val-
         ues  (caused  by  deposits, withdrawals, and/or market price fluctua-
         tions)

       o --gain : show the unrealised capital gain/loss, (the  current  valued
         balance minus each amount's original cost)

       o --count : show the count of postings

   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:

       o --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)

       o --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.

       o --historical/-H  : calculate with postings from journal start to col-
         umn end, ie "all postings from before report start  date  until  this
         column's  end".  Typically used to see historical end balances of as-
         sets/liabilities/equity.  (default for  balancesheet,  balancesheete-
         quity)

   Valuation mode
       Which  kind  of value or cost conversion should be applied, if any, be-
       fore 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:

       o no conversion : don't convert to cost or value (default)

       o --value=cost[,COMM] : convert amounts to  cost  (then  optionally  to
         some other commodity)

       o --value=then[,COMM]  : convert amounts to market value on transaction
         dates

       o --value=end[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value  on  period  end
         date(s)
       (default with --valuechange, --gain)

       o --value=now[,COMM] : convert amounts to market value on today's date

       o --value=YYYY-MM-DD[,COMM]  :  convert  amounts to market value on an-
         other date

       or with the legacy -B/-V/-X options, which are equivalent and easier to
       type:

       o -B/--cost : like --value=cost

       o -V/--market : like --value=end

       o -X COMM/--exchange COMM : like --value=end,COMM

       Note that --value can also convert to cost, as a convenience; but actu-
       ally --cost and --value are independent options, and could be used  to-
       gether.

   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 fol-
       lowing restrictions are applied:

       o --valuechange implies --value=end

       o --valuechange makes --change the default  when  used  with  the  bal-
         ancesheet/balancesheetequity commands

       o --cumulative or --historical disables --row-total/-T

       For reference, here is what the combinations of accumulation and valua-
       tion show:

       Valua-     no valuation       --value= then       --value= end      --value=
       tion:>                                                              YYYY-MM-DD
       Accumu-                                                             /now
       lation:v
       -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       --change   change in period   sum    of   post-   period-end        DATE-value  of
                                     ing-date   market   value of change   change in  pe-
                                     values in period    in period         riod
       --cumu-    change  from re-   sum    of   post-   period-end        DATE-value  of
       lative     port  start   to   ing-date   market   value of change   change    from
                  period end         values  from  re-   from     report   report   start
                                     port start to pe-   start to period   to period end
                                     riod end            end
       --his-     change      from   sum    of   post-   period-end        DATE-value  of
       torical    journal start to   ing-date   market   value of change   change    from
       /-H        period end (his-   values from jour-   from    journal   journal  start
                  torical end bal-   nal  start to pe-   start to period   to period end
                  ance)              riod end            end

   Budget report
       The --budget report is like a regular balance report, but with two main
       differences:

       o Budget goals and performance percentages are also shown, in brackets

       o 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 exam-
       ple, 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 peri-
       ods,  often  recurring,  and  hledger shows performance relative to the
       goals.  This contrasts with "envelope budgeting",  which  is  more  de-
       tailed  and  strict  -  useful when cash is tight, but also quite a bit
       more work.  https://plaintextaccounting.org/Budgeting has more on  this
       topic.

   Using the budget report
       Historically  this  report  has  been confusing and fragile.  hledger's
       version should be relatively robust and intuitive, but  you  may  still
       find  surprises.   Here  are more notes to help with learning and trou-
       bleshooting.

       o In the above example, expenses:bus and expenses:food  are  shown  be-
         cause they have budget goals during the report period.

       o Their  parent  expenses  is  also shown, with budget goals aggregated
         from the children.

       o The subaccounts expenses:food:groceries and expenses:food:dining  are
         not  shown since they have no budget goal of their own, but they con-
         tribute to expenses:food's actual amount.

       o Unbudgeted accounts expenses:movies and expenses:gifts are  also  not
         shown, but they contribute to expenses's actual amount.

       o The  other  unbudgeted  accounts  income and assets:bank:checking are
         grouped as <unbudgeted>.

       o --depth or depth: can be used to limit report depth in the usual  way
         (but will not reveal unbudgeted subaccounts).

       o Amounts are always inclusive of subaccounts (even in -l/--list mode).

       o 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.

       o In the periodic rules used for setting budget goals, unbalanced post-
         ings are convenient.

       o 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.)

       o 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.

       o You can "roll over" amounts (actual and budgeted) to the next  period
         with --cumulative.

       See also: https://hledger.org/budgeting.html.

   Budget date surprises
       With  small  data,  or  when starting out, some of the generated budget
       goal transaction dates might fall outside the report periods.  Eg  with
       the  following  journal and report, the first period appears to have no
       expenses:food budget.  (Also the <unbudgeted>  account  should  be  ex-
       cluded 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:gener-
       ated  expenses).   Whereas  the report period defaults to just the 15th
       day of january (this can be seen from the report table's  column  head-
       ings).

       To  fix  this  kind  of thing, be more explicit about the report period
       (and/or the periodic rules' dates).  In this case, adding -b 2020  does
       the trick.

   Selecting budget goals
       By  default,  the budget report uses all available periodic transaction
       rules to generate goals.  This includes rules with a  different  report
       interval  from  your  report.  Eg if you have daily, weekly and monthly
       periodic rules, all of these will contribute to the goals in a  monthly
       budget report.

       You  can  select a subset of periodic rules by providing an argument to
       the --budget flag.  --budget=DESCPAT  will  match  all  periodic  rules
       whose 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 de-
       fined in your journal.

   Budgeting vs forecasting
       --forecast and --budget both use the periodic transaction rules in  the
       journal  to  generate  temporary  transactions  for reporting purposes.
       However they are separate features - though you can  use  both  at  the
       same time if you want.  Here are some differences between them:

       --forecast                               --budget
       --------------------------------------------------------------------------
       is  a general option; it enables fore-   is a balance command option;  it
       casting with all reports                 selects   the  balance  report's
                                                budget mode
       generates visible  transactions  which   generates invisible transactions
       appear in reports                        which produce goal amounts
       generates  forecast  transactions from   generates budget  goal  transac-
       after the last regular transaction, to   tions  throughout the report pe-
       the end of the report period; or  with   riod, optionally  restricted  by
       an argument --forecast=PERIODEXPR gen-   periods  specified  in the peri-
       erates  them  throughout the specified   odic transaction rules
       period, both optionally restricted  by
       periods   specified  in  the  periodic
       transaction rules
       uses all periodic rules                  uses all periodic rules; or with
                                                an   argument   --budget=DESCPAT
                                                uses  just  the rules matched by
                                                DESCPAT

   Balance report layout
       The --layout option affects how balance and the other balance-like com-
       mands show multi-commodity amounts and commodity symbols.  It  can  im-
       prove readability, for humans and/or machines (other software).  It has
       four possible values:

       o --layout=wide[,WIDTH]:  commodities  are  shown on a single line, op-
         tionally elided to WIDTH

       o --layout=tall: each commodity is shown on a separate line

       o --layout=bare: commodity symbols are in their own column, amounts are
         bare numbers

       o --layout=tidy: data is normalised  to  easily-consumed  "tidy"  form,
         with  one  row per data value.  (This one is currently supported only
         by the balance command.)

       Here are the --layout modes supported by each output  format  Only  CSV
       output supports all of them:

       -      txt   csv   html   json   sql
       -------------------------------------
       wide   Y     Y     Y
       tall   Y     Y     Y
       bare   Y     Y     Y
       tidy         Y

       Examples:

   Wide layout
       With many commodities, reports can be very wide:

              $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=wide
              Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                                ||                                          2012                                                     2013                                             2014                                                      Total
              ==================++====================================================================================================================================================================================================================
               Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 12.00 VEA, 106.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, -98.12 USD, 10.00 VEA, 18.00 VHT  -11.00 ITOT, 4881.44 USD, 14.00 VEA, 170.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT
              ------------------++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 12.00 VEA, 106.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, -98.12 USD, 10.00 VEA, 18.00 VHT  -11.00 ITOT, 4881.44 USD, 14.00 VEA, 170.00 VHT  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 5120.50 USD, 36.00 VEA, 294.00 VHT

       A width limit reduces the width, but some commodities will be hidden:

              $ hledger -f examples/bcexample.hledger bal assets:us:etrade -3 -T -Y --layout=wide,32
              Balance changes in 2012-01-01..2014-12-31:

                                ||                             2012                             2013                   2014                            Total
              ==================++===========================================================================================================================
               Assets:US:ETrade || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more..
              ------------------++---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                || 10.00 ITOT, 337.18 USD, 2 more..  70.00 GLD, 18.00 ITOT, 3 more..  -11.00 ITOT, 3 more..  70.00 GLD, 17.00 ITOT, 3 more..

   Tall layout
       Each  commodity  gets a new line (may be different in each column), and
       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

   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 com-
       modity, because of zero  amounts  (hledger  treats  zeroes  as  commod-
       ity-less,   usually).    This   can   break   hledger-bar   confusingly
       (workaround: add a cur: query to exclude the no-symbol row).

   Tidy layout
       This       produces       normalised       "tidy       data"       (see
       https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tidyr/vignettes/tidy-data.html)
       where  every variable has its own column and each row represents a sin-
       gle 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"

   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 di-
       rectory 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://local-
       host:5000.    You   can   also    produce    relative    links,    like
       --base-url="some/path" or --base-url="".)

   Some useful balance reports
       Some frequently used balance options/reports are:

       o bal -M revenues expenses
       Show  revenues/expenses  in each month.  Also available as the incomes-
       tatement command.

       o bal -M -H assets liabilities
       Show historical asset/liability  balances  at  each  month  end.   Also
       available as the balancesheet command.

       o bal -M -H assets liabilities equity
       Show  historical  asset/liability/equity  balances  at  each month end.
       Also available as the balancesheetequity command.

       o bal -M assets not:receivable
       Show changes to liquid assets in each month.   Also  available  as  the
       cashflow command.

       Also:

       o bal -M expenses -2 -SA
       Show  monthly  expenses  summarised  to  depth  2 and sorted by average
       amount.

       o bal -M --budget expenses
       Show monthly expenses and budget goals.

       o bal -M --valuechange investments
       Show monthly change in market value of investment assets.

       o bal  investments  --valuechange  -D  date:lastweek  amt:'>1000'  -STA
         [--invert]
       Show top gainers [or losers] last week

   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  ac-
       count  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  re-
       quested.   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:

       o Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return  (IRR).
         Possible  causes:  IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment be-
         comes negative at some point in time.

       o Error (SearchFailed): Failed to find solution for  Internal  Rate  of
         Return (IRR).  Either search does not converge to a solution, or con-
         verges too slowly.

       Examples:

       o Using   roi   to  compute  total  return  of  investment  in  stocks:
         https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/blob/master/examples/invest-
         ing/roi-unrealised.ledger

       o Cookbook > Return on Investment: https://hledger.org/roi.html

   Spaces and special characters in --inv and --pnl
       Note that --inv and --pnl's argument is a query, and queries could have
       several space-separated terms (see QUERIES).

       To indicate that all search terms form  single  command-line  argument,
       you will need to put them in quotes (see Special characters):

              $ hledger roi --inv 'term1 term2 term3 ...'

       If  any  query  terms contain spaces themselves, you will need an extra
       level of nested quoting, eg:

              $ hledger roi --inv="'Assets:Test 1'" --pnl="'Equity:Unrealized Profit and Loss'"

   Semantics of --inv and --pnl
       Query supplied to --inv has to match all transactions that are  related
       to your investment.  Transactions not matching --inv will be ignored.

       In these transactions, ROI will conside postings that match --inv to be
       "investment  postings"  and other postings (not matching --inv) will be
       sorted into two categories: "cash flow" and "profit and loss",  as  ROI
       needs  to know which part of the investment value is your contributions
       and which is due to the return on investment.

       o "Cash flow" is depositing or withdrawing money, buying or selling as-
         sets, or otherwise converting between your investment  commodity  and
         any other commodity.  Example:

                2019-01-01 Investing in Snake Oil
                  assets:cash          -$100
                  investment:snake oil

                2020-01-01 Selling my Snake Oil
                  assets:cash           $10
                  investment:snake oil  = 0

       o "Profit and loss" is change in the value of your investment:

                2019-06-01 Snake Oil falls in value
                  investment:snake oil  = $57
                  equity:unrealized profit or loss

       All  non-investment postings are assumed to be "cash flow", unless they
       match --pnl query.  Changes in value of your investment due to  "profit
       and  loss"  postings  will be considered as part of your investment re-
       turn.

       Example: if you use --inv snake --pnl equity:unrealized, then  postings
       in the example below would be classifed as:

              2019-01-01 Snake Oil #1
                assets:cash          -$100   ; cash flow posting
                investment:snake oil         ; investment posting

              2019-03-01 Snake Oil #2
                equity:unrealized pnl  -$100 ; profit and loss posting
                snake oil                    ; investment posting

              2019-07-01 Snake Oil #3
                equity:unrealized pnl        ; profit and loss posting
                cash          -$100          ; cash flow posting
                snake oil     $50            ; investment posting

   IRR and TWR explained
       "ROI"  stands  for "return on investment".  Traditionally this was com-
       puted as a difference between current value of investment and its  ini-
       tial value, expressed in percentage of the initial value.

       However, this approach is only practical in simple cases, where invest-
       ments  receives  no  in-flows  or out-flows of money, and where rate of
       growth is fixed over time.  For more complex scenarios you need differ-
       ent ways to compute rate of return, and this command implements two  of
       them: IRR and TWR.

       Internal  rate of return, or "IRR" (also called "money-weighted rate of
       return") takes into account effects of in-flows and out-flows, 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 percent-
       age 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 "unreal-
       ized gains") account or use price directives, then in order for IRR  to
       compute  the  precise effect of your in-flows and out-flows on the rate
       of return, you will need to record the value of your investement on  or
       close to the days when in- or out-flows occur.

       In  technical  terms,  IRR uses the same approach as computation of net
       present value, and tries to find a discount rate that makes net present
       value of all the cash flows of your investment to add up to zero.  This
       could be hard to wrap your head around, especially if you haven't  done
       discounted cash flow analysis before.  Implementation of IRR in hledger
       should produce results that match the =XIRR formula in Excel.

       Second  way  to  compute  rate of return that roi command implements is
       called "time-weighted rate of return" or "TWR".  Like IRR, it will  ac-
       count  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 invest-
       ment and changes in its value change the value  of  "investment  unit".
       Change  in "unit price" over the reporting period gives you rate of re-
       turn of your investment, and make TWR less sensitive than  IRR  to  the
       effects of cash in-flows and out-flows.

       References:

       o Explanation of rate of return

       o Explanation of IRR

       o Explanation of TWR

       o IRR vs TWR

       o Examples  of  computing IRR and TWR and discussion of the limitations
         of both metrics

Chart commands
   activity
       Show an ascii barchart of posting counts per interval.

              Flags:
              no command-specific flags

       The activity command displays an ascii  histogram  showing  transaction
       counts  by  day, week, month or other reporting interval (by day is the
       default).  With query arguments, it counts only matched transactions.

       Examples:

              $ hledger activity --quarterly
              2008-01-01 **
              2008-04-01 *******
              2008-07-01
              2008-10-01 **

Data generation commands
   close
       (equity)

       close prints several kinds of "closing" and/or "opening"  transactions,
       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 de-
       faults 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.

   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.  Typ-
       ically, 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/file-
       set "bookended" with opening and closing balance transactions will  al-
       low  you  to freely pick and choose which files to read - just the cur-
       rent 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.

   close --close
       This  prints  just the closing balances transaction of --clopen.  It is
       the default if you don't specify a mode.

       More customisation options are described below.   Among  other  things,
       you can use close --close to generate a transaction moving the balances
       from any set of accounts, to a different account.  (If you need to move
       just a portion of the balance, see hledger-move.)

   close --open
       This  prints just the opening balances transaction of --clopen.  (It is
       similar to Ledger's equity command.)

   close --assert
       This prints a transaction that asserts the account balances as they are
       on the end date (and adds an assert: tag).  It could be useful as docu-
       mention and to guard against changes.

   close --assign
       This prints a transaction that assigns the account balances as they are
       on the end date (and adds an "assign:"  tag).   Unlike  balance  asser-
       tions, 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.

   close --retain
       This  is  like  --close, but it closes Revenue and Expense account bal-
       ances by default.  They will be transferred  to  equity:retained  earn-
       ings, or another account specified with --close-acct.

       Revenues  and expenses correspond to changes in equity.  They are cate-
       gorised separately for reporting purposes, but traditionally at the end
       of each accounting period, businesses  consolidate  them  into  equity,
       This is called "retaining earnings", or "closing the books".

       In  personal  accounting,  there's not much reason to do this, and most
       people don't.  (One reason to do it is to help  the  balancesheetequity
       report  show  a  zero total, demonstrating that the accounting equation
       (A-L=E) is satisfied.)

   close customisation
       In all modes, the following things can be overridden:

       o the accounts to be closed/opened, with account query arguments

       o the closing/opening dates, with -e OPENDATE

       o the balancing account, with --close-acct=ACCT and/or --open-acct=ACCT

       o the   transaction   descriptions,    with    --close-desc=DESC    and
         --open-desc=DESC

       o 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 gener-
       ated 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 trou-
       bleshooting).

       With --show-costs, balances' costs are also shown, with different costs
       kept separate.  This may generate very large journal  entries,  if  you
       have  many  currency  conversions  or  investment  transactions.  close
       --show-costs is currently the best way to  view  investment  lots  with
       hledger.    (To   move  or  dispose  of  lots,  see  the  more  capable
       hledger-move script.)

   close and balance assertions
       close adds balance assertions verifying that the accounts have been re-
       set to zero in a closing transaction or restored to their previous bal-
       ances in an opening transaction.  These provide useful error  checking,
       but you can ignore them temporarily with -I, or remove them if you pre-
       fer.

       Single-commodity,  subaccount-exclusive balance assertions (=) are gen-
       erated 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  ac-
       count, splitting the multi-day transaction into two single-day transac-
       tions:

              ; in 2022.journal:
              2022-12-30 a purchase made in december, cleared in january
                  expenses:food          5
                  equity:pending        -5

              ; in 2023.journal:
              2023-01-02 last year's transaction cleared
                  equity:pending         5 = 0
                  assets:bank:checking  -5

   close examples
   Retain earnings
       Record 2022's revenues/expenses as retained earnings on 2022-12-31, ap-
       pending the generated transaction to the journal:

              $ hledger close --retain -f 2022.journal -p 2022 >> 2022.journal

       After  this,  to  see 2022's revenues and expenses you must exclude the
       retain earnings transaction:

              $ hledger -f 2022.journal is not:desc:'retain earnings'

   Migrate balances to a new file
       Close assets/liabilities on 2022-12-31 and re-open them on 2023-01-01:

              $ hledger close --clopen -f 2022.journal -p 2022
              # copy/paste the closing transaction to the end of 2022.journal
              # copy/paste the opening transaction to the start of 2023.journal

       After this, to see 2022's end-of-year balances  you  must  exclude  the
       closing balances transaction:

              $ hledger -f 2022.journal bs not:desc:'closing balances'

       For  more flexibility, it helps to tag closing and opening transactions
       with eg clopen:NEWYEAR, then you can ensure correct balances by exclud-
       ing all opening/closing transactions except the first, like so:

              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j -f 2023.j expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'
              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j -f 2022.j           expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'
              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j -f 2023.j           expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'
              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2021.j                     expr:'tag:clopen=2021 or not tag:clopen'
              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2022.j                     expr:'tag:clopen=2022 or not tag:clopen'
              $ hledger bs -Y -f 2023.j                     # unclosed file, no query needed

   More detailed close examples
       See examples/multi-year.

   rewrite
       Print all transactions, rewriting the postings of matched transactions.
       For now the only rewrite available is adding new postings,  like  print
       --auto.

              Flags:
                   --add-posting='ACCT  AMTEXPR'  add a posting to ACCT, which may be
                                                  parenthesised. AMTEXPR is either a literal
                                                  amount, or *N which means the transaction's
                                                  first matched amount multiplied by N (a
                                                  decimal number). Two spaces separate ACCT
                                                  and AMTEXPR.
                   --diff                         generate diff suitable as an input for
                                                  patch tool

       This is a start at a generic rewriter of transaction entries.  It reads
       the  default  journal and prints the transactions, like print, but adds
       one or more specified postings to any transactions matching QUERY.  The
       posting amounts can be fixed, or a multiplier of the existing  transac-
       tion's first posting amount.

       Examples:

              $ hledger-rewrite.hs ^income --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33  ; income tax' --add-posting '(reserve:gifts)  $100'
              $ hledger-rewrite.hs expenses:gifts --add-posting '(reserve:gifts)  *-1"'
              $ hledger-rewrite.hs -f rewrites.hledger

       rewrites.hledger may consist of entries like:

              = ^income amt:<0 date:2017
                (liabilities:tax)  *0.33  ; tax on income
                (reserve:grocery)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery
                (reserve:)  *0.25  ; reserve 25% for grocery

       Note  the  single  quotes to protect the dollar sign from bash, and the
       two spaces between account and amount.

       More:

              $ hledger rewrite [QUERY]        --add-posting "ACCT  AMTEXPR" ...
              $ hledger rewrite ^income        --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33'
              $ hledger rewrite expenses:gifts --add-posting '(budget:gifts)  *-1"'
              $ hledger rewrite ^income        --add-posting '(budget:foreign currency)  *0.25 JPY; diversify'

       Argument for --add-posting option is a  usual  posting  of  transaction
       with  an  exception  for amount specification.  More precisely, you can
       use '*' (star symbol) before the amount to indicate that that this is a
       factor for an amount of original matched posting.  If  the  amount  in-
       cludes a commodity name, the new posting amount will be in the new com-
       modity;  otherwise,  it will be in the matched posting amount's commod-
       ity.

   Re-write rules in a file
       During the run this tool will execute  so  called  "Automated  Transac-
       tions" found in any journal it process.  I.e instead of specifying this
       operations in command line you can put them in a journal file.

              $ rewrite-rules.journal

       Make contents look like this:

              = ^income
                  (liabilities:tax)  *.33

              = expenses:gifts
                  budget:gifts  *-1
                  assets:budget  *1

       Note  that '=' (equality symbol) that is used instead of date in trans-
       actions you usually write.  It indicates the query by which you want to
       match the posting to add new ones.

              $ hledger rewrite -f input.journal -f rewrite-rules.journal > rewritten-tidy-output.journal

       This is something similar to the commands pipeline:

              $ hledger rewrite -f input.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33' \
                | hledger rewrite -f - expenses:gifts      --add-posting 'budget:gifts  *-1'       \
                                                              --add-posting 'assets:budget  *1'       \
                > rewritten-tidy-output.journal

       It is important to understand that relative order of  such  entries  in
       journal  is important.  You can re-use result of previously added post-
       ings.

   Diff output format
       To use this tool for batch modification of your journal files  you  may
       find useful output in form of unified diff.

              $ hledger rewrite --diff -f examples/sample.journal '^income' --add-posting '(liabilities:tax)  *.33'

       Output might look like:

              --- /tmp/examples/sample.journal
              +++ /tmp/examples/sample.journal
              @@ -18,3 +18,4 @@
               2008/01/01 income
              -    assets:bank:checking  $1
              +    assets:bank:checking            $1
                   income:salary
              +    (liabilities:tax)                0
              @@ -22,3 +23,4 @@
               2008/06/01 gift
              -    assets:bank:checking  $1
              +    assets:bank:checking            $1
                   income:gifts
              +    (liabilities:tax)                0

       If you'll pass this through patch tool you'll get transactions contain-
       ing the posting that matches your query be updated.  Note that multiple
       files  might  be  update according to list of input files specified via
       --file options and include directives inside of these files.

       Be careful.  Whole transaction being re-formatted in a style of  output
       from hledger print.

       See also:

       https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/issues/99

   rewrite vs. print --auto
       This  command  predates  print --auto, and currently does much the same
       thing, but with these differences:

       o with multiple files, rewrite lets rules in any file affect all  other
         files.   print  --auto  uses standard directive scoping; rules affect
         only child files.

       o rewrite's query limits which transactions can be rewritten;  all  are
         printed.  print --auto's query limits which transactions are printed.

       o rewrite  applies  rules  specified on command line or in the journal.
         print --auto applies rules specified in the journal.

Maintenance commands
   check
       Check for various kinds of errors in your data.

              Flags:
              no command-specific flags

       hledger provides a number of built-in correctness checks to help  vali-
       date  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 re-
       ported.

   Basic checks
       These important checks are performed by default, by almost all  hledger
       commands:

       o parseable  - data files are in a supported format, with no syntax er-
         rors and no invalid include directives.  This ensures that all  files
         exist and are readable.

       o autobalanced - all transactions are balanced, after automatically in-
         ferring  missing  amounts  and  conversion  rates and then converting
         amounts to cost.  This ensures that each transaction's journal  entry
         is well formed.

       o assertions - all balance assertions in the journal are passing.  Bal-
         ance  assertions  are  a strong defense against errors, catching many
         problems.  This check is on by default, but if it gets in  your  way,
         you  can  disable it temporarily with -I/--ignore-assertions, or as a
         default  by  adding  that  flag  to  your  config  file.   (Then  use
         -s/--strict or hledger check assertions when you want to enable it).

   Strict checks
       When  the -s/--strict flag is used (AKA strict mode), all commands will
       perform the following additional checks (and assertions, above).  These
       provide extra error-catching power to help you keep your data clean and
       correct:

       o balanced - like autobalanced, but implicit conversions  between  com-
         modities  are  not allowed; all conversion transactions must use cost
         notation or equity postings.  This prevents wrong conversions  caused
         by typos.

       o commodities  -  all  commodity  symbols  used must be declared.  This
         guards against mistyping or omitting commodity symbols.

       o accounts - all account names used must be  declared.   This  prevents
         the use of mis-spelled or outdated account names.

   Other checks
       These  are  not wanted by everyone, but can be run using the check com-
       mand:

       o tags - all tags used must be declared.  This prevents mis-spelled tag
         names.  Note hledger fairly often finds unintended tags in comments.

       o 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.

       o ordereddates - within each file,  transactions  must  be  ordered  by
         date.   This  is  a simple and effective error catcher.  It's not in-
         cluded in strict mode, but you can add it by running hledger check -s
         ordereddates.  If enabled, this check is performed before balance as-
         sertions.

       o recentassertions - all accounts with balance assertions must have one
         that's within the 7 days before their latest posting.  This will  en-
         courage adding balance assertions for your active asset/liability ac-
         counts,  which  in  turn  should encourage you to reconcile regularly
         with those real world balances - another strong defense  against  er-
         rors.   (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.)

       o 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.

   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/:

       o hledger-check-tagfiles  -  all  tag values containing / exist as file
         paths

       o hledger-check-fancyassertions - more complex balance  assertions  are
         passing

   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 mul-
       tiple bank transactions have been combined into a single journal entry.

       This command is useful eg if you have downloaded an account's  transac-
       tions  from your bank (eg as CSV data): when hledger and your bank dis-
       agree about the account balance, you can compare  the  bank  data  with
       your journal to find out the cause.

       Examples:

              $ hledger diff -f $LEDGER_FILE -f bank.csv assets:bank:giro
              These transactions are in the first file only:

              2014/01/01 Opening Balances
                  assets:bank:giro              EUR ...
                  ...
                  equity:opening balances       EUR -...

              These transactions are in the second file only:

   setup
       Check the status of the hledger installation.

              Flags:
              no command-specific flags

       setup  tests  your  hledger  installation and prints a list of results,
       sometimes with helpful hints.  This is a good first command to run  af-
       ter  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  ver-
       sion.   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

   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

PART 5: COMMON TASKS
       Here are some quick examples  of  how  to  do  some  basic  tasks  with
       hledger.

   Getting help
       Here's how to list commands and view options and command docs:

              $ hledger                # show available commands
              $ hledger --help         # show common options
              $ hledger CMD --help     # show CMD's options, common options and CMD's documentation

       You  can  also view your hledger version's manual in several formats by
       using the help command.  Eg:

              $ hledger help           # show the hledger manual with info, man or $PAGER (best available)
              $ hledger help journal   # show the journal topic in the hledger manual
              $ hledger help --help    # find out more about the help command

       To  view  manuals   and   introductory   docs   on   the   web,   visit
       https://hledger.org.    Chat  and  mail  list  support  and  discussion
       archives can be found at https://hledger.org/support.

   Constructing command lines
       hledger has a flexible command line interface.  We strive  to  keep  it
       simple  and  ergonomic,  but if you run into one of the sharp edges de-
       scribed in OPTIONS, here are some tips that might help:

       o command-specific options must go after the command (it's fine to  put
         common options there too: hledger CMD OPTS ARGS)

       o you  can  run  addon  commands via hledger (hledger ui [ARGS]) or di-
         rectly (hledger-ui [ARGS])

       o enclose "problematic" arguments in single quotes

       o if needed, also add a backslash to hide regular expression  metachar-
         acters from the shell

       o to see how a misbehaving command line is being parsed, add --debug=2.

   Starting a journal file
       hledger   looks   for   your   accounting   data  in  a  journal  file,
       $HOME/.hledger.journal by default:

              $ hledger stats
              The hledger journal file "/Users/simon/.hledger.journal" was not found.
              Please create it first, eg with "hledger add" or a text editor.
              Or, specify an existing journal file with -f or LEDGER_FILE.

       You can override this by setting the LEDGER_FILE  environment  variable
       (see  below).   It's  a good practice to keep this important file under
       version control, and to start a new file each year.  So  you  could  do
       something like this:

              $ mkdir ~/finance
              $ cd ~/finance
              $ git init
              Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/
              $ touch 2023.journal
              $ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2023.journal" >> ~/.profile
              $ source ~/.profile
              $ hledger stats
              Main file                : /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal
              Included files           :
              Transactions span        :  to  (0 days)
              Last transaction         : none
              Transactions             : 0 (0.0 per day)
              Transactions last 30 days: 0 (0.0 per day)
              Transactions last 7 days : 0 (0.0 per day)
              Payees/descriptions      : 0
              Accounts                 : 0 (depth 0)
              Commodities              : 0 ()
              Market prices            : 0 ()

   Setting LEDGER_FILE
   Set LEDGER_FILE on unix
       It  depends  on  your shell, but running these commands in the terminal
       will work for many people; adapt if needed:

              $ echo 'export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/my.journal' >> ~/.profile
              $ source ~/.profile

       When correctly configured:

       o env | grep LEDGER_FILE will show your new setting

       o and so should hledger setup and hledger files.

   Set LEDGER_FILE on mac
       In a terminal window, follow the unix procedure above.

       Also, this optional step may be helpful for GUI applications:

       1. Add an entry to ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist like

                  {
                    "LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/my.journal"
                  }

       2. Run killall Dock in a terminal window (or restart the  machine),  to
          complete the change.

       When correctly configured for GUI applications:

       o apps  started  from  the  dock  or  a spotlight search, such as a GUI
         Emacs, will be aware of the new LEDGER_FILE setting.

   Set LEDGER_FILE on Windows
       Using the gui is easiest:

       1. In task bar, search for environment variables, and choose "Edit  en-
          vironment variables for your account".

       2. Create  or  change a LEDGER_FILE setting in the User variables pane.
          A typical value would be C:\Users\USERNAME\finance\my.journal.

       3. Click OK to complete the change.

       4. And open a new powershell window.  (Existing windows won't  see  the
          change.)

       Or at the command line, you can do it this way:

       1. In   a  powershell  window,  run  [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVari-
          able("LEDGER_FILE",   "C:\User\USERNAME\finance\my.journal",   [Sys-
          tem.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:

       o may not affect the current window

       o may not be persistent

       o may not work unless you are an administrator

       o may limit values to 1024 characters

       o may break dynamic references to other variables

       o may require a new-enough version of powershell

       o or may be intended for the older command window.

       o If you still have trouble, see eg Setting Windows PowerShell environ-
         ment variables or Adding path permanently to windows using powershell
         doesn't appear to work.

       When correctly configured:

       o in  a new powershell window, $env:LEDGER_FILE will show your new set-
         ting

       o and so should hledger setup and (once the file exists) hledger files.

   Setting opening balances
       Pick a starting date for which you can look up  the  balances  of  some
       real-world  assets  (bank  accounts, wallet..)  and liabilities (credit
       cards..).

       To avoid a lot of data entry, you may want to start with  just  one  or
       two accounts, like your checking account or cash wallet; and pick a re-
       cent  starting  date, like today or the start of the week.  You can al-
       ways come back later and add more accounts and older  transactions,  eg
       going back to january 1st.

       Add  an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the bal-
       ances on this date.  Here are two ways to do it:

       o The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an  entry
         like this:

                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.

       o The  second  way:  run hledger add and follow the prompts to record a
         similar transaction:

                $ hledger add
                Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2023.journal
                Any command line arguments will be used as defaults.
                Use tab key to complete, readline keys to edit, enter to accept defaults.
                An optional (CODE) may follow transaction dates.
                An optional ; COMMENT may follow descriptions or amounts.
                If you make a mistake, enter < at any prompt to go one step backward.
                To end a transaction, enter . when prompted.
                To quit, enter . at a date prompt or press control-d or control-c.
                Date [2023-02-07]: 2023-01-01
                Description: * opening balances
                Account 1: assets:bank:checking
                Amount  1: $1000
                Account 2: assets:bank:savings
                Amount  2 [$-1000]: $2000
                Account 3: assets:cash
                Amount  3 [$-3000]: $100
                Account 4: liabilities:creditcard
                Amount  4 [$-3100]: $-50
                Account 5: equity:opening/closing balances
                Amount  5 [$-3050]:
                Account 6 (or . or enter to finish this transaction): .
                2023-01-01 * opening balances
                    assets:bank:checking                      $1000
                    assets:bank:savings                       $2000
                    assets:cash                                $100
                    liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
                    equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050

                Save this transaction to the journal ? [y]:
                Saved.
                Starting the next transaction (. or ctrl-D/ctrl-C to quit)
                Date [2023-01-01]: .

       If you're using version control, this could be a good  time  to  commit
       the journal.  Eg:

              $ git commit -m 'initial balances' 2023.journal

   Recording transactions
       As  you spend or receive money, you can record these transactions using
       one of the methods above (text editor, hledger add)  or  by  using  the
       hledger-iadd  or hledger-web add-ons, or by using the import command to
       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

   Reconciling
       Periodically  you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported bal-
       ances against external sources of truth, like bank statements  or  your
       bank's  website - to be sure that your ledger accurately represents the
       real-world balances (and, that the  real-world  institutions  have  not
       made  a  mistake!).   This gets easy and fast with (1) practice and (2)
       frequency.  If you do it daily, it can take 2-10 minutes.  If  you  let
       it  pile  up, expect it to take longer as you hunt down errors and dis-
       crepancies.

       A typical workflow:

       1. Reconcile cash.  Count what's in your  wallet.   Compare  with  what
          hledger  reports  (hledger bal cash).  If they are different, try to
          remember the missing transaction, or look for the error in  the  al-
          ready-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 check-
          ing  -C).  If they are different, track down the error or record the
          missing transaction(s) or add an adjustment transaction, similar  to
          the above.  Unlike the cash case, you can usually compare the trans-
          action  history  and running balance from your bank with the one re-
          ported by hledger reg checking -C.  This will be easier if you  gen-
          erally  record transaction dates quite similar to your bank's clear-
          ing dates.

       3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts.

       Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a  live-up-
       dating register while you edit the journal: hledger-ui --watch --regis-
       ter 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  com-
       mit:

              $ git commit -m 'txns' 2023.journal

   Reporting
       Here are some basic reports.

       Show all transactions:

              $ hledger print
              2023-01-01 * opening balances
                  assets:bank:checking                      $1000
                  assets:bank:savings                       $2000
                  assets:cash                                $100
                  liabilities:creditcard                     $-50
                  equity:opening/closing balances          $-3050

              2023-01-10 * gift received
                  assets:cash              $20
                  income:gifts

              2023-01-12 * farmers market
                  expenses:food             $13
                  assets:cash

              2023-01-15 * paycheck
                  income:salary
                  assets:bank:checking           $1000

              2023-01-16 * adjust cash
                  assets:cash               $-2 = $105
                  expenses:misc

       Show account names, and their hierarchy:

              $ hledger accounts --tree
              assets
                bank
                  checking
                  savings
                cash
              equity
                opening/closing balances
              expenses
                food
                misc
              income
                gifts
                salary
              liabilities
                creditcard

       Show all account totals:

              $ hledger balance
                             $4105  assets
                             $4000    bank
                             $2000      checking
                             $2000      savings
                              $105    cash
                            $-3050  equity:opening/closing balances
                               $15  expenses
                               $13    food
                                $2    misc
                            $-1020  income
                              $-20    gifts
                            $-1000    salary
                              $-50  liabilities:creditcard
              --------------------
                                 0

       Show  only  asset  and  liability  balances, as a flat list, limited to
       depth 2:

              $ hledger bal assets liabilities -2
                             $4000  assets:bank
                              $105  assets:cash
                              $-50  liabilities:creditcard
              --------------------
                             $4055

       Show the same thing without negative numbers,  formatted  as  a  simple
       balance sheet:

              $ hledger bs -2
              Balance Sheet 2023-01-16

                                      || 2023-01-16
              ========================++============
               Assets                 ||
              ------------------------++------------
               assets:bank            ||      $4000
               assets:cash            ||       $105
              ------------------------++------------
                                      ||      $4105
              ========================++============
               Liabilities            ||
              ------------------------++------------
               liabilities:creditcard ||        $50
              ------------------------++------------
                                      ||        $50
              ========================++============
               Net:                   ||      $4055

       The final total is your "net worth" on the end date.  (Or use bse for a
       full balance sheet with equity.)

       Show income and expense totals, formatted as an income statement:

              hledger is
              Income Statement 2023-01-01-2023-01-16

                             || 2023-01-01-2023-01-16
              ===============++=======================
               Revenues      ||
              ---------------++-----------------------
               income:gifts  ||                   $20
               income:salary ||                 $1000
              ---------------++-----------------------
                             ||                 $1020
              ===============++=======================
               Expenses      ||
              ---------------++-----------------------
               expenses:food ||                   $13
               expenses:misc ||                    $2
              ---------------++-----------------------
                             ||                   $15
              ===============++=======================
               Net:          ||                 $1005

       The final total is your net income during this period.

       Show transactions affecting your wallet, with running total:

              $ hledger register cash
              2023-01-01 opening balances     assets:cash                   $100          $100
              2023-01-10 gift received        assets:cash                    $20          $120
              2023-01-12 farmers market       assets:cash                   $-13          $107
              2023-01-16 adjust cash          assets:cash                    $-2          $105

       Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:

              $ hledger activity -W
              2019-12-30 *****
              2023-01-06 ****
              2023-01-13 ****

   Migrating to a new file
       At  the end of the year, you may want to continue your journal in a new
       file, so that old transactions don't slow down or clutter your reports,
       and to help ensure the integrity of your accounting history.   See  the
       close command.

       If using version control, don't forget to git add the new file.

BUGS
       We    welcome    bug    reports    in   the   hledger   issue   tracker
       (https://bugs.hledger.org),  or  on  the  hledger  chat  or  mail  list
       (https://hledger.org/support).

       Some known issues and limitations:

       hledger  uses  the  system's text encoding when reading non-ascii text.
       If no system encoding is configured, or if the data's encoding is  dif-
       ferent,  hledger will give an error.  (See Text encoding, Troubleshoot-
       ing.)

       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  power-
       shell window.)

       When processing large data files, hledger uses more memory than Ledger.

   Troubleshooting
       Here  are  some common issues you might encounter when you run hledger,
       and how to resolve them (and remember also you can  usually  get  quick
       Support):

       PATH issues: I get an error like "No command 'hledger' found"
       Depending how you installed hledger, the executables may not be in your
       shell's  PATH.   Eg  on  unix systems, stack installs hledger in ~/.lo-
       cal/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
       o 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://stackover-
         flow.com/a/7411509).  On Windows, $env:LEDGER_FILE should show it.

       o 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 "In-
       valid  or incomplete multibyte or wide character" or "commitAndRelease-
       Buffer: invalid argument (invalid character)"
       hledger usually needs its input to be decodable  with  the  system  lo-
       cale's text encoding.  See Text encoding and Install: Text encoding.

       COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: hledger gives an error with my Ledger file
       Not  all  of  Ledger's journal file syntax or feature set is supported.
       See hledger and Ledger for full details.



AUTHORS
       Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
       See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.


LICENSE
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


SEE ALSO
       hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)

hledger-1.51                     December 2025                      HLEDGER(1)
