hledger/hledger-lib/hledger_timedot.m4.md

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# NAME

Timedot - hledger's human-friendly time logging format

# DESCRIPTION

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Timedot is a plain text format for logging dated, categorised quantities (of time, usually), supported by hledger.
It is convenient for approximate and retroactive time logging,
eg when the real-time clock-in/out required with a timeclock file is too precise or too interruptive.
It can be formatted like a bar chart, making clear at a glance where time was spent.

Though called "timedot", this format is read by hledger as commodityless quantities, 
so it could be used to represent dated quantities other than time.
In the docs below we'll assume it's time.

# FILE FORMAT

A timedot file contains a series of day entries.
A day entry begins with a date, and is followed by category/quantity pairs, one per line.
Dates are hledger-style [simple dates](/journal.html#simple-dates) (see hledger_journal(5)).
Categories are hledger-style account names, optionally indented.
As in a hledger journal, there must be at least two spaces between the category (account name) and the quantity.

Quantities can be written as:

- a sequence of dots (.) representing quarter hours.
  Spaces may optionally be used for grouping and readability.
  Eg: .... .. 

- an integral or decimal number, representing hours.
  Eg: 1.5
  
- an integral or decimal number immediately followed by a unit symbol 
  `s`, `m`, `h`, `d`, `w`, `mo`, or `y`, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days
  weeks, months or years respectively. 
  Eg: 90m.
  The following equivalencies are assumed, currently: 
  1m = 60s, 1h = 60m, 1d = 24h, 1w = 7d, 1mo = 30d, 1y=365d.

Blank lines and lines beginning with #, ; or * are ignored.
An example:

```timedot
# 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  .
```

Or with numbers:

```timedot
2016/2/3
inc:client1   4
fos:hledger   3
biz:research  1
```

Reporting:

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

2016/02/02 *
    (biz:research)          0.25
```
```shell
$ hledger -f t.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 
```

I prefer to use period for separating account components.
We can make this work with an [account alias](/journal.html#account-aliases):

```timedot
2016/2/4
fos.hledger.timedot  4
fos.ledger           ..
```
```shell
$ hledger -f t.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal date:2016/2/4
                4.50  fos
                4.00    hledger:timedot
                0.50    ledger
--------------------
                4.50
```

Here is a
[sample.timedot](https://raw.github.com/simonmichael/hledger/master/examples/sample.timedot).
<!-- to download and some queries to try: -->

<!-- ```shell -->
<!-- $ hledger -f sample.timedot balance                               # current time balances -->
<!-- $ hledger -f sample.timedot register -p 2009/3                    # sessions in march 2009 -->
<!-- $ hledger -f sample.timedot register -p weekly --depth 1 --empty  # time summary by week -->
<!-- ``` -->