hledger/README
2009-11-20 14:54:17 +00:00

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hledger User's Guide
====================
hledger is an accounting tool, similar to and inspired by John Wiegley's
"ledger" project. If you haven't already, see also hledger's home page at
http://hledger.org .
hledger is copyright (c) 2007-2009 Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and
contributors and released under GPL version 3 or later.
Installing
----------
hledger works on all major platforms.
One of these `platform binaries`_ might work for you.
If not, please report, then install the `Haskell Platform`_ and type ``cabal install hledger``.
Platform binaries are not yet being published; you could try asking for
one on the #ledger channel.
cabal update
cabal install hledger [-fvty] [-fhapps]
The vty and happs flags are optional; they enable hledger's "ui" and "web"
commands respectively. vty is not available on the windows platform.
Basic usage
-----------
hledger generates ledger-compatible register & balance reports from a
plain text ledger file. You can use it from the command line, or via the
web or curses interface.
hledger looks for your ledger file at ~/.ledger by default. To use a
different file, specify it with the LEDGER environment variable or -f
option (which may be - for standard input). Basic usage is::
hledger [OPTIONS] [COMMAND [PATTERNS]]
COMMAND is one of balance, print, register, ui, web, test (defaulting to
balance). PATTERNS are zero or more regular expressions used to filter by
account name or transaction description. Here are some commands to try::
export LEDGER=sample.ledger
hledger --help # show usage & options
hledger balance # all accounts with aggregated balances
hledger bal --depth 1 # only top-level accounts
hledger register # transaction register
hledger reg income # transactions to/from an income account
hledger reg checking # checking transactions
hledger reg desc:shop # transactions with shop in the description
hledger histogram # transactions per day, or other interval
hledger ui # curses ui, if installed with -fvty
hledger web # web ui, if installed with -fhapps
hledger -f new.ledger add # record transactions from the command line
Time reporting
..............
hledger will also read timelog files in timeclock.el format. If you
invoke hledger via a symlink or copy named "hours", it looks for your
timelog file (~/.timelog or $TIMELOG) by default.::
hours [OPTIONS] [COMMAND [PATTERNS]]
Timelog entries look like this::
i 2009/03/31 22:21:45 some:project
o 2009/04/01 02:00:34
The clockin description is treated as an account name. Here are some
queries to try::
ln -s `which hledger` ~/bin/hours # set up "hours" in your path
export TIMELOG=sample.timelog
hours # show all time balances
hours -p 'last week' # last week
hours -p thismonth # the space is optional
hours -p 'from 1/15' register project # project sessions since jan 15
hours -p 'weekly' reg --depth 1 -E # weekly time summary
Features
--------
Overview
........
This version of hledger mimics a subset of ledger 3.x, and adds some
features of its own. We currently support regular ledger entries, timelog
entries, multiple commodities, virtual transactions, account and
description filtering, and these commands and options::
Commands:
balance [REGEXP]... show balance totals for matching accounts
register [REGEXP]... show register of matching transactions
print [REGEXP]... print all matching entries
Basic options:
-h, --help show summarized help
-f, --file FILE read ledger data from FILE
Report filtering:
-b, --begin DATE report on entries on or after this date
-e, --end DATE report on entries prior to this date
-p, --period EXPR report on entries during the specified period
and/or with the specified reporting interval
-C, --cleared report only on cleared entries
-R, --real report only on real (non-virtual) transactions
Output customization:
-B, --basis, --cost report cost of commodities
-d, --display EXPR display only transactions matching EXPR (limited support)
-E, --empty show empty/zero things which are normally elided
--no-total balance report: hide the final total
-W, --weekly register report: show weekly summary
-M, --monthly register report: show monthly summary
-Y, --yearly register report: show yearly summary
Misc:
-V, --version show version information
-v, --verbose show verbose test output
--debug show some debug output
--debug-no-ui run ui commands with no output
We handle (almost) the full period expression syntax, and very limited
display expressions consisting of a simple date predicate. Also the
following new commands are supported::
add prompt for new transactions and add them to the ledger
convert read CSV bank data and display in ledger format
histogram show a barchart of transactions per day or other interval
ui run a simple text-based UI (only on unix platforms)
web run a simple web-based UI
stats show various statistics for a ledger
test run self-tests
Smart dates
...........
hledger accepts "smart dates" in most places a date can be used, such as:
transaction dates, effective dates, -b and -e options, and `period
expressions <#period-expressions>`_. Here are some valid hledger dates:
- 2009/1/1, 2009/01/01, 2009-1-1, 2009.1.1, 2009/1, 2009 (january 1, 2009)
- 1/1, january, jan, this year (january 1, this year)
- next year (january 1, next year)
- this month (the 1st of the current month)
- this week (the most recent monday)
- last week (the monday of the week before this one)
- today, yesterday, tomorrow
Period expressions
..................
hledger supports flexible "period expressions" with the ``-p/--period``
option to select transactions within a period of time (like 2009) and/or
with a reporting interval (like weekly). hledger period expressions are
similar but not identical to c++ ledger's.
Here is a basic period expression specifying the first quarter of 2009
(start date is always included, end date is always excluded)::
-p "from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
Keywords like "from" and "to" are optional, and so are the spaces. Just
don't run two dates together::
-p2009/1/1to2009/4/1
-p"2009/1/1 2009/4/1"
Dates are `smart dates <#smart-dates>`_, so if the current year is 2009, the above can also
be written as::
-p "1/1 to 4/1"
-p "january to 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 in your ledger data::
-p "from 2009/1/1" (everything after january 1, 2009)
-p "from 2009/1" (the same)
-p "from 2009" (the same)
-p "to 2009" (everything before january 1, 2009)
A single date with no "from" or "to" defines both the start and end date like so::
-p "2009" (the year 2009; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2010/1/1")
-p "2009/1" (the month of jan; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/2/1")
-p "2009/1/1" (just that day; equivalent to "2009/1/1 to 2009/1/2")
You can also specify a reporting interval, which causes the "register"
command to summarise the transactions in each interval. It goes before the
dates, and can be: "daily", "weekly", "monthly", "quarterly", or
"yearly". An "in" keyword is optional, and so are the dates::
-p "weekly from 2009/1/1 to 2009/4/1"
-p "monthly in 2008"
-p "monthly from 2008"
-p "quarterly"
Display expressions
...................
A display expression with the ``-d/--display`` option selects which
transactions will be displayed (unlike a `period expression
<#period-expressions>`_, which selects the transactions to be used for
calculation).
hledger currently supports a very small subset of c++ ledger's display
expressions, namely: transactions before or after a date. This is useful
for displaying your recent check register with an accurate running total.
Note the use of >= here to include the first of the month::
hledger register -d "d>=[this month]"
Differences from c++ ledger
---------------------------
hledger is written in the Haskell programming language, which encourages a
coding style known as pure functional programming. This can, all going
well, help programmers to produce reliable software and write less code.
it demonstrates a pure functional implementation of ledger.
ledger features not supported
.............................
ledger features not currently supported include: modifier and periodic
entries, and the following options and commands::
Basic options:
-o, --output FILE write output to FILE
-i, --init-file FILE initialize ledger using FILE (default: ~/.ledgerrc)
-a, --account NAME use NAME for the default account (useful with QIF)
Report filtering:
-c, --current show only current and past entries (not future)
--period-sort EXPR sort each report period's entries by EXPR
-U, --uncleared consider only uncleared transactions
-L, --actual consider only actual (non-automated) transactions
-r, --related calculate report using related transactions
--budget generate budget entries based on periodic entries
--add-budget show all transactions plus the budget
--unbudgeted show only unbudgeted transactions
--forecast EXPR generate forecast entries while EXPR is true
-l, --limit EXPR calculate only transactions matching EXPR
-t, --amount EXPR use EXPR to calculate the displayed amount
-T, --total EXPR use EXPR to calculate the displayed total
Output customization:
-n, --collapse Only show totals in the top-most accounts.
-s, --subtotal other: show subtotals
-P, --by-payee show summarized totals by payee
-x, --comm-as-payee set commodity name as the payee, for reporting
--dow show a days-of-the-week report
-S, --sort EXPR sort report according to the value expression EXPR
-w, --wide for the default register report, use 132 columns
--head COUNT show only the first COUNT entries (negative inverts)
--tail COUNT show only the last COUNT entries (negative inverts)
--pager PAGER send all output through the given PAGER program
-A, --average report average transaction amount
-D, --deviation report deviation from the average
-%, --percentage report balance totals as a percentile of the parent
--totals in the "xml" report, include running total
-j, --amount-data print only raw amount data (useful for scripting)
-J, --total-data print only raw total data
-y, --date-format STR use STR as the date format (default: %Y/%m/%d)
-F, --format STR use STR as the format; for each report type, use:
--balance-format --register-format --print-format
--plot-amount-format --plot-total-format --equity-format
--prices-format --wide-register-format
Commodity reporting:
--price-db FILE sets the price database to FILE (def: ~/.pricedb)
-L, --price-exp MINS download quotes only if newer than MINS (def: 1440)
-Q, --download download price information when needed
-O, --quantity report commodity totals (this is the default)
-V, --market report last known market value
-g, --performance report gain/loss for each displayed transaction
-G, --gain report net gain/loss
Commands:
xml [REGEXP]... print matching entries in XML format
equity [REGEXP]... output equity entries for matching accounts
prices [REGEXP]... display price history for matching commodities
entry DATE PAYEE AMT output a derived entry, based on the arguments
Other differences
.................
* hledger calls the "note" field "description"
* hledger recognises description and negative patterns by "desc:" and "not:" prefixes,
unlike ledger 3's free-form parser
* hledger keeps differently-priced amounts of the same commodity separate
* hledger doesn't require a space before command-line option values, eg: -f-
* hledger's weekly reporting intervals always start on mondays
* hledger shows start and end dates of the intervals requested, not just the span containing data
* hledger period expressions don't support "biweekly", "bimonthly", or "every N days/weeks/..."
* hledger always shows timelog balances in hours
* hledger splits multi-day timelog sessions at midnight
* hledger register report always sorts transactions by date
* hledger doesn't show description comments as part of the description
* hledger print puts a blank line after the entry, not before it
* hledger doesn't print trailing spaces after amount-elided postings
.. _platform binaries: http://hledger.org/binaries/
.. _Haskell Platform: http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/