hledger/bin

Scripts and add-ons

This document is the README in the hledger repo's bin directory, and is also published as Scripts and add-ons on hledger.org.

Add-on commands are executable script files or compiled programs named hledger-*, which show up in hledger's commands list. Some notable add-ons are listed in the hledger manual.

The rest of this page lists smaller scripts and add-ons which are collected in bin/, grouped by how closely they work with hledger:

To be clear: you don't need any of these when starting out with hledger. hledger comes with many built-in commands, and you may want to get familiar with those first.

HLEDGER-RELATED

These scripts don't use hledger directly, but are complementary and might be useful to hledger users. (plaintextaccounting.org has a longer list of PTA tools.)

paypaljson

paypaljson downloads the last 30 days of Paypal transactions (requires a free developer account & API key).

paypaljson2csv

paypaljson2csv (python) converts paypaljson's output to CSV, with format similar to Paypal's manually-downloaded CSV.

HLEDGER-RUNNING

These scripts run hledger via its CLI, eg to help you produce a particular report without needing to remember a complicated command line. They might also consume its text or CSV or JSON output. They can be small shell aliases or functions (typically defined in shell startup files like ~/.bashrc) or individual script files written in shell or another language (typically kept in ~/bin/ or elsewhere in $PATH).

bashrc

bashrc contains many example bash aliases and functions. After installing the bin scripts: as a bash user,

# customise FINDIR and LEDGER_FILE at the top of bin/bashrc
$ . bin/bashrc
$ fin        # list the scripts available

watchaccounts

watchaccounts shows hledger account names, updating on file change under the current directory. Arguments are passed to the hledger accounts command. Useful when cleaning up accounts.

$ watchaccounts expenses -2
$ watchaccounts -f time.journal client1 date:thismonth -l

sortandmergepostings

sortandmergepostings can be used to cleanup and normalize postings. It will sort postings so that positive ones are first, negative ones last. Inside of that it sorts postings by account name alphabetically. Lastly it facilitates merging postings on transactions with more than one posting in the same direction on the same account. This works by removing the duplicates and cleaning the amount field for at-most one account per run Piping the output to hledger print can recalculate the missing amounts. Subsequent runs can cleanup further duplicates.

$ sortandmergepostings input.journal | hledger -f - print -x

hledger-simplebal

hledger-simplebal shows how to reliably report a single machine-readable number with hledger. This and the other "hledger-" scripts are add-on commands.

$ hledger simplebal

hledger-bar

hledger-bar prints quick bar charts in the terminal.

$ hledger bar reimbursement
2023-01	++++++
2023-02	++
2023-03	++
2023-04	-------

$ hledger bar                                        # show help
$ hledger bar food                                   # monthly food expenses
$ hledger bar -- 1 --count food                      # monthly food posting counts
$ hledger bar -- type:c not:tag:clopen cur:\\\\$ -W  # weekly cashflow, $ only
$ hledger bar -- type:al not:tag:clopen cur:\\\\$    # monthly net worth change ($)
$ hledger bar -- type:rx --invert cur:\\\\$          # monthly profit/loss ($)
$ hledger bar -- -v 1 -f $TIMELOG -D                 # daily hours, with numbers

hledger-git

hledger-git provides easy version control for your journal files, using git. Run it with no arguments for help.

$ hledger git log
$ hledger git status
$ hledger git record [MSG]

hledger-pijul

hledger-pijul provides the same thing using the pijul version control system..

$ hledger pijul log
$ hledger pijul status
$ hledger pijul record [MSG]

hledger-edit

The hledger-utils python package provides a hledger-edit command to edit the queried transactions in your $EDITOR no matter what file they reside in.

Install or upgrade:

$ pip install -U hledger-utils    # might be slightly different on your system

Examples:

# Opens your $EDITOR or $VISUAL with only costs in Florida 
# (if you named and tagged them like that)
# edit the transactions, save and exit your editor, 
# then the changes are distributed to the original files
$ hledger edit Cost tag:location=Florida

# Automate changes by setting `$EDITOR` to a script
# (here all food we had on that one day in Florida was Fast Food 🌭 and we initially forgot to write that) 
EDITOR='perl -pi -e "s|Cost:Food|Cost:Food:Fast Food|g"' hledger edit tag:location=Florida date:2022-12-20

hledger-plot

The hledger-utils python package provides a hledger-plot command for generating charts with matplotlib.

Install or upgrade:

$ pip install -U hledger-utils    # might be slightly different on your system

Examples:

$ hledger-plot -h
$ hledger plot -- bal -DH ^Assets -2

hledger-lots

hledger-lots shows a lots report, or generates a lot sale transaction, using FIFO strategy (and without needing subaccounts for lots).

Install or upgrade:

$ pip install -U hledger-lots

Examples:

$ hledger lots
$ hledger lots view
$ hledger lots list

HLEDGER-INTEGRATED

These Haskell scripts use the hledger-lib API for maximum power and robustness; they can do anything hledger's built-in commands can do.

hledger-script-example

hledger-script-example.hs is a template for writing your own hledger-integrated add-on command. It has the same structure as most of the add-ons here:

• a stack script for robustness
• providing command line help
• accepting common hledger options

hledger-print-location

hledger-print-location.hs is a variant of hledger's print command that adds the file and line number to every transaction, as a tag:

$ hledger print-location -f hledger/examples/sample.journal desc:eat
2008/06/03 * eat & shop
  ; location: /Users/simon/src/hledger/examples/sample.journal:30
  expenses:food                  $1
  expenses:supplies              $1
  assets:cash

hledger-swap-dates

hledger-swap-dates.hs prints transactions with their date and date2 fields swapped.

hledger-check-tagfiles

hledger-check-tagfiles.hs interprets all tag values containing a / (forward slash) as file paths, and checks that those files exist. hledger-check-tagfiles.cabal.hs is the same command implemented as a cabal script rather than a stack script.

hledger-register-max

hledger-register-max.hs runs a register report and prints the posting with largest historical balance.

$ hledger-register-max -f examples/bcexample.hledger checking
2013-01-03 Hoogle | Payroll  Assets:US:BofA:Checking      1350.60 USD  8799.22 USD
$ hledger register-max -- -f examples/bcexample.hledger checking
2013-01-03 Hoogle | Payroll  Assets:US:BofA:Checking      1350.60 USD  8799.22 USD

hledger-check-postable

hledger-check-postable.hs check that no postings are made to accounts declared with a postable:n or postable:no tag. This can be used as a workaround when you must declare a parent account to control display order, but you don't want to allow postings to it. Eg, to allow postings to assets:cash but not assets (remember that account tags are inherited):

account assets         ; postable:n
account assets:cash    ; postable:

hledger-check-fancyassertions

hledger-check-fancyassertions.hs checks account balances over time in more complex ways than hledger's built-in balance assertions.

hledger-combine-balances

hledger-combine-balances.hs shows balance reports for two different periods side by side.

hledger-balance-as-budget

hledger-balance-as-budget.hs uses one balance report to set budget goals for another balance report.

hledger-smooth

hledger-smooth.hs is an incomplete attempt at automatically splitting infrequent/irregular transactions.

hledger-move

hledger-move.hs helps make subaccount/cost-preserving transfers.

HOW TO

Install scripts

To use these bin scripts you must ensure they are in your $PATH and runnable:

• Shell scripts: you may need bash, or to adapt the scripts for your shell.
• Python scripts: you'll need python 3 and pip.
• Haskell scripts: you'll need stack (https://www.haskell.org/get-started). Or if you know how, you can make them cabal scripts, or install their dependencies manually and use runghc/ghc.

Here's a suggested install procedure:

# Go to wherever you keep financial files:
$ cd ~/finance

# Get the hledger repo
# the fast way, without version control:
$ curl -LOJ https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/archive/refs/heads/master.zip && unzip hledger-master.zip && mv hledger-master hledger
# or the slow way, with version control for easy diffing/updating/contributing
# git clone https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger

# Make a more convenient symlink to the bin directory:
$ ln -s hledger/bin

# Add the bin directory to your PATH. Eg as a bash user:
$ echo "export PATH=$PATH:$PWD/bin" >>~/.bash_profile"
$ export PATH=$PATH:$PWD/bin

# Optionally, compile all haskell scripts for faster startup:
$ cd hledger; bin/compile.sh

# Optionally, install the python scripts:
$ pip install -U hledger-utils
$ pip install -U hledger-lots

# Check that hledger's command list now includes the bin scripts.
# Eg "check-fancyassertions" and "swap-dates" should be listed:
$ hledger

Create a new script

To create a new hledger-integrated script, copy hledger-script-example.hs. On unix, the new script should be marked executable. This should do it:

$ cd bin
$ cp hledger-script-example.hs hledger-cmd.hs   # replace cmd with your command name
# edit hledger-cmd.hs, updating at least the command name and help
$ stack install safe text     # ensure the script's dependencies are installed
$ hledger-cmd.hs --help
cmd [OPTIONS]
  My new cmd command.
  ...
$ stack ghc hledger-cmd.hs  # optionally compile for faster startup/durability
$ hledger cmd -- --help
cmd [OPTIONS]
  My new cmd command.
  ...

Run ghcid on a script

$ stack exec --package 'safe text' -- ghcid hledger-cmd.hs 
...
Ok, one module loaded.
All good (1 module, at 10:50:48)

Run ghci on a script

$ stack ghci --package 'safe text' hledger-cmd.hs 
...
Ok, one module loaded.
...
ghci> 

Learn more about scripting hledger

See Scripting hledger.