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;doc: hledger: write the new examples (Common Tasks) section

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# COMMON TASKS # COMMON TASKS
Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger. Here are some quick examples of how to do some basic tasks with hledger.
For more background, see the reference section below, and the journal format manual. For more details, see the reference section below, the hledger_journal(5) manual,
For a more gentle introduction and additional how-tos, see the hledger.org website. or the more extensive docs at <https://hledger.org>.
## Get help
```shell
$ hledger # show available commands
$ hledger --help # show common options
$ hledger CMD --help # show common and command options, and command help
$ hledger help # show available manuals/topics
$ hledger help hledger # show hledger manual as info/man/text (auto-chosen)
$ hledger help journal --man # show the journal manual as a man page
$ hledger help --help # show more detailed help for the help command
```
Find more docs, chat, mail list, reddit, issue tracker:
<https://hledger.org#help-feedback>
## Starting a Journal ## Starting a Journal
hledger looks for your accounting data in a journal file, `$HOME/.hledger.journal` by default:
```shell
$ 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.
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:
```shell
$ mkdir ~/finance
$ cd ~/finance
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/simon/finance/.git/
$ touch 2020.journal
$ echo "export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/finance/2020.journal" >> ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrc
$ hledger stats
Main file : /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 Opening Balances ## Setting Opening Balances
Pick a starting date for which you can look up the balances of some
real-world assets (bank accounts, wallet..) and liabilities (credit cards..).
To avoid a lot of data entry, you may want to start with just one or
two accounts, like your checking account or cash wallet; and pick a
recent starting date, like today or the start of the week. You can
always come back later and add more accounts and older transactions,
eg going back to january 1st.
Add an opening balances transaction to the journal, declaring the
balances on this date. Here are two ways to do it:
- The first way: open the journal in any text editor and save an entry like this:
```journal
2020-01-01 * opening balances
assets:bank:checking $1000 = $1000
assets:bank:savings $2000 = $2000
assets:cash $100 = $100
liabilities:creditcard $-50 = $-$50
equity:opening/closing balances
```
These are start-of-day balances, ie whatever was in the account at the
end of the previous day.
The * after the date is an optional status flag.
Here it means "cleared & confirmed".
The currency symbols are optional, but usually a good idea as you'll
be dealing with multiple currencies sooner or later.
The = amounts are optional balance assertions, providing extra error checking.
- The second way: run `hledger add` and follow the prompts to record a similar transaction:
```shell
$ hledger add
Adding transactions to journal file /Users/simon/finance/2020.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 [2020-02-07]: 2020-01-01
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): .
2020-01-01 * 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 [2020-01-01]: .
```
If you're using version control, this could be a good time to commit the journal. Eg:
```shell
$ git commit -am 'initial balances' 2020.journal
```
## Recording Transactions ## Recording Transactions
Two simple transactions in hledger journal format: 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](#iadd) or [hledger-web](#web) add-ons,
or by using the [import command](#import) 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:
```journal ```journal
2015/9/30 gift received 2020/1/10 * gift received
assets:cash $20 assets:cash $20
income:gifts income:gifts
2015/10/16 farmers market 2020.1.12 * farmers market
expenses:food $10 expenses:food $13
assets:cash assets:cash
2020-01-15 paycheck
income:salary
assets:bank:checking $1000
``` ```
## Reconciling ## Reconciling
## Some basic reports Periodically you should reconcile - compare your hledger-reported balances
against external sources of truth, like bank statements or your bank's website -
to be sure that your ledger accurately represents the real-world balances
(and, that the real-world institutions have not made a mistake!).
This gets easy and fast with (1) practice and (2) frequency.
If you do it daily, it can take 2-10 minutes.
If you let it pile up, expect it to take longer as you hunt down errors and discrepancies.
A typical workflow:
1. Reconcile cash.
Count what's in your wallet.
Compare with what hledger reports (`hledger bal cash`).
If they are different, try to remember the missing transaction,
or look for the error in the already-recorded transactions.
A register report can be helpful (`hledger reg cash`).
If you can't find the error, add an adjustment transaction.
Eg if you have $105 after the above, and can't explain the missing $2, it could be:
```journal
2020-01-16 * adjust cash
assets:cash $-2 = $105
expenses:misc
```
2. Reconcile checking.
Log in to your bank's website.
Compare today's (cleared) balance with hledger's cleared balance (`hledger bal checking -C`).
If they are different, track down the error or record the missing transaction(s)
or add an adjustment transaction, similar to the above.
Unlike the cash case, you can usually compare the transaction history and running balance from your bank
with the one reported by `hledger reg checking -C`.
This will be easier if you generally record transaction dates
quite similar to your bank's clearing dates.
3. Repeat for other asset/liability accounts.
Tip: instead of the register command, use hledger-ui to see a
live-updating register while you edit the journal:
`hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C`
After reconciling, it could be a good time to mark the reconciled
transactions' status as "cleared and confirmed", if you want to track
that, by adding the `*` marker.
Eg in the paycheck transaction above, insert `*` between `2020-01-15` and `paycheck`
If you're using version control, this can be another good time to commit:
```shell ```shell
$ hledger print $ git commit -am 'txns' 2020.journal
2015-09-30 gift received
assets:cash $20
income:gifts $-20
2015-10-16 farmers market
expenses:food $10
assets:cash $-10
``` ```
## Reporting
Here are some basic reports.
Show all transactions:
```shell
$ hledger print
2020-01-01 * opening balances
assets:bank:checking $1000
assets:bank:savings $2000
assets:cash $100
liabilities:creditcard $-50
equity:opening/closing balances $-3050
2020-01-10 * gift received
assets:cash $20
income:gifts
2020-01-12 * farmers market
expenses:food $13
assets:cash
2020-01-15 * paycheck
income:salary
assets:bank:checking $1000
2020-01-16 * adjust cash
assets:cash $-2 = $105
expenses:misc
```
Show account names, and their hierarchy:
```shell ```shell
$ hledger accounts --tree $ hledger accounts --tree
assets assets
bank
checking
savings
cash cash
equity
opening/closing balances
expenses expenses
food food
misc
income income
gifts gifts
salary
liabilities
creditcard
``` ```
Show all account totals:
```shell ```shell
$ hledger balance $ hledger balance
$10 assets:cash $4105 assets
$10 expenses:food $4000 bank
$-20 income:gifts $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 0
``` ```
Show only asset and liability balances, as a flat list, limited to depth 2:
```shell
$ hledger bal assets liabilities --flat -2
$4000 assets:bank
$105 assets:cash
$-50 liabilities:creditcard
--------------------
$4055
```
Show the same thing without negative numbers, formatted as a simple balance sheet:
```shell
$ hledger bs --flat -2
Balance Sheet 2020-01-16
|| 2020-01-16
========================++============
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:
```shell
hledger is
Income Statement 2020-01-01-2020-01-16
|| 2020-01-01-2020-01-16
===============++=======================
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:
```shell ```shell
$ hledger register cash $ hledger register cash
2015-09-30 gift received assets:cash $20 $20 2020-01-01 opening balances assets:cash $100 $100
2015-10-16 farmers market assets:cash $-10 $10 2020-01-10 gift received assets:cash $20 $120
2020-01-12 farmers market assets:cash $-13 $107
2020-01-16 adjust cash assets:cash $-2 $105
``` ```
## More commands Show weekly posting counts as a bar chart:
```shell ```shell
$ hledger # show available commands $ hledger activity -W
$ hledger add # add more transactions to the journal file 2019-12-30 *****
$ hledger balance # all accounts with aggregated balances 2020-01-06 ****
$ hledger balance --help # show detailed help for balance command 2020-01-13 ****
$ hledger balance --depth 1 # only top-level accounts
$ hledger register # show account postings, with running total
$ hledger reg income # show postings to/from income accounts
$ hledger reg 'assets:some bank:checking' # show postings to/from this checking account
$ hledger print desc:shop # show transactions with shop in the description
$ hledger activity -W # show transaction counts per week as a bar chart
``` ```
## Starting 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](#close).