hledger/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.1

.TH "HLEDGER-UI" "1" "December 2023" "hledger-ui-1.31.99 " "hledger User Manuals"



.SH NAME
hledger-ui - robust, friendly plain text accounting (TUI version)
.SH SYNOPSIS
\f[CR]hledger-ui    [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]\f[R]
.PD 0
.P
.PD
\f[CR]hledger ui -- [OPTS] [QUERYARGS]\f[R]
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual is for hledger\[aq]s terminal interface, version 1.31.99.
See also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats.
.PP
hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs for
tracking money, time, or any other commodity, using double-entry
accounting and a simple, editable file format.
hledger is inspired by and largely compatible with ledger(1), and
largely interconvertible with beancount(1).
.PP
hledger-ui is hledger\[aq]s terminal interface, providing an efficient
full-window text UI for viewing accounts and transactions, and some
limited data entry capability.
It is easier than hledger\[aq]s command-line interface, and sometimes
quicker and more convenient than the web interface.
.PP
Like hledger, it reads from (and appends to) a journal file specified by
the \f[CR]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] environment variable (defaulting to
\f[CR]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R]); or you can specify files with
\f[CR]-f\f[R] options.
It can also read timeclock files, timedot files, or any CSV/SSV/TSV file
with a date field.
(See hledger(1) -> Input for details.)
.PP
Unlike hledger, hledger-ui hides all future-dated transactions by
default.
They can be revealed, along with any rule-generated periodic
transactions, by pressing the F key (or starting with --forecast) to
enable \[dq]forecast mode\[dq].
.SH OPTIONS
Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters
the data.
.PP
hledger-ui provides the following options:
.TP
\f[CR]-w --watch\f[R]
watch for data and date changes and reload automatically
.TP
\f[CR]--theme=default|terminal|greenterm\f[R]
use this custom display theme
.TP
\f[CR]--menu\f[R]
start in the menu screen
.TP
\f[CR]--cash\f[R]
start in the cash accounts screen
.TP
\f[CR]--bs\f[R]
start in the balance sheet accounts screen
.TP
\f[CR]--is\f[R]
start in the income statement accounts screen
.TP
\f[CR]--all\f[R]
start in the all accounts screen
.TP
\f[CR]--register=ACCTREGEX\f[R]
start in the (first) matched account\[aq]s register screen
.TP
\f[CR]--change\f[R]
show period balances (changes) at startup instead of historical balances
.TP
\f[CR]-l --flat\f[R]
show accounts as a flat list (default)
.TP
\f[CR]-t --tree\f[R]
show accounts as a tree
.PP
hledger-ui also supports many of hledger\[aq]s general options (and the
hledger manual\[aq]s command line tips also apply here):
.SS General help options
.TP
\f[CR]-h --help\f[R]
show general or COMMAND help
.TP
\f[CR]--man\f[R]
show general or COMMAND user manual with man
.TP
\f[CR]--info\f[R]
show general or COMMAND user manual with info
.TP
\f[CR]--version\f[R]
show general or ADDONCMD version
.TP
\f[CR]--debug[=N]\f[R]
show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)
.SS General input options
.TP
\f[CR]-f FILE --file=FILE\f[R]
use a different input file.
For stdin, use - (default: \f[CR]$LEDGER_FILE\f[R] or
\f[CR]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R])
.TP
\f[CR]--rules-file=RULESFILE\f[R]
Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default: FILE.rules)
.TP
\f[CR]--separator=CHAR\f[R]
Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: \[aq],\[aq])
.TP
\f[CR]--alias=OLD=NEW\f[R]
rename accounts named OLD to NEW
.TP
\f[CR]--anon\f[R]
anonymize accounts and payees
.TP
\f[CR]--pivot FIELDNAME\f[R]
use some other field or tag for the account name
.TP
\f[CR]-I --ignore-assertions\f[R]
disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance
assignments)
.TP
\f[CR]-s --strict\f[R]
do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are declared)
.SS General reporting options
.TP
\f[CR]-b --begin=DATE\f[R]
include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to
preceding subperiod start when using a report interval)
.TP
\f[CR]-e --end=DATE\f[R]
include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to following
subperiod end when using a report interval)
.TP
\f[CR]-D --daily\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
.TP
\f[CR]-W --weekly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
.TP
\f[CR]-M --monthly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
.TP
\f[CR]-Q --quarterly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
.TP
\f[CR]-Y --yearly\f[R]
multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
.TP
\f[CR]-p --period=PERIODEXP\f[R]
set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once using
period expressions syntax
.TP
\f[CR]--date2\f[R]
match the secondary date instead (see command help for other effects)
.TP
\f[CR]--today=DATE\f[R]
override today\[aq]s date (affects relative smart dates, for
tests/examples)
.TP
\f[CR]-U --unmarked\f[R]
include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C)
.TP
\f[CR]-P --pending\f[R]
include only pending postings/txns
.TP
\f[CR]-C --cleared\f[R]
include only cleared postings/txns
.TP
\f[CR]-R --real\f[R]
include only non-virtual postings
.TP
\f[CR]-NUM --depth=NUM\f[R]
hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep
.TP
\f[CR]-E --empty\f[R]
show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in
hledger-ui/hledger-web)
.TP
\f[CR]-B --cost\f[R]
convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time
.TP
\f[CR]-V --market\f[R]
convert amounts to their market value in default valuation commodities
.TP
\f[CR]-X --exchange=COMM\f[R]
convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM
.TP
\f[CR]--value\f[R]
convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than -B/-V/-X
.TP
\f[CR]--infer-equity\f[R]
infer conversion equity postings from costs
.TP
\f[CR]--infer-costs\f[R]
infer costs from conversion equity postings
.TP
\f[CR]--infer-market-prices\f[R]
use costs as additional market prices, as if they were P directives
.TP
\f[CR]--forecast\f[R]
generate transactions from periodic rules,
between the latest recorded txn and 6 months from today,
or during the specified PERIOD (= is required).
Auto posting rules will be applied to these transactions as well.
Also, in hledger-ui make future-dated transactions visible.
.TP
\f[CR]--auto\f[R]
generate extra postings by applying auto posting rules to all txns (not
just forecast txns)
.TP
\f[CR]--verbose-tags\f[R]
add visible tags indicating transactions or postings which have been
generated/modified
.TP
\f[CR]--commodity-style\f[R]
Override the commodity style in the output for the specified commodity.
For example \[aq]EUR1.000,00\[aq].
.TP
\f[CR]--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)\f[R]
Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text output.
\[aq]auto\[aq] (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-supporting
terminal.
\[aq]always\[aq] or \[aq]yes\[aq]: always, useful eg when piping output
into \[aq]less -R\[aq].
\[aq]never\[aq] or \[aq]no\[aq]: never.
A NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this.
.TP
\f[CR]--pretty[=WHEN]\f[R]
Show prettier output, e.g.
using unicode box-drawing characters.
Accepts \[aq]yes\[aq] (the default) or \[aq]no\[aq] (\[aq]y\[aq],
\[aq]n\[aq], \[aq]always\[aq], \[aq]never\[aq] also work).
If you provide an argument you must use \[aq]=\[aq], e.g.
\[aq]--pretty=yes\[aq].
.PP
When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the
last one takes precedence.
.PP
Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments.
.SH MOUSE
In most modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a
mouse or touchpad:
.IP \[bu] 2
Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down
.IP \[bu] 2
Click on list items to go deeper
.IP \[bu] 2
Click on the left margin (column 0) to go back.
.SH KEYS
Keyboard gives more control.
.PP
\f[CR]?\f[R] shows a help dialog listing all keys.
(Some of these also appear in the quick help at the bottom of each
screen.)
Press \f[CR]?\f[R] again (or \f[CR]ESCAPE\f[R], or \f[CR]LEFT\f[R], or
\f[CR]q\f[R]) to close it.
The following keys work on most screens:
.PP
The cursor keys navigate: \f[CR]RIGHT\f[R] or \f[CR]ENTER\f[R] goes
deeper, \f[CR]LEFT\f[R] returns to the previous screen,
\f[CR]UP\f[R]/\f[CR]DOWN\f[R]/\f[CR]PGUP\f[R]/\f[CR]PGDN\f[R]/\f[CR]HOME\f[R]/\f[CR]END\f[R]
move up and down through lists.
Emacs-style
(\f[CR]CTRL-p\f[R]/\f[CR]CTRL-n\f[R]/\f[CR]CTRL-f\f[R]/\f[CR]CTRL-b\f[R])
and VI-style (\f[CR]k\f[R],\f[CR]j\f[R],\f[CR]l\f[R],\f[CR]h\f[R])
movement keys are also supported.
A tip: movement speed is limited by your keyboard repeat rate, to move
faster you may want to adjust it.
(If you\[aq]re on a mac, the karabiner app is one way to do that.)
.PP
With shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting
the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown).
\f[CR]SHIFT-DOWN/UP\f[R] steps downward and upward through these
standard report period durations: year, quarter, month, week, day.
Then, \f[CR]SHIFT-LEFT/RIGHT\f[R] moves to the previous/next period.
\f[CR]T\f[R] sets the report period to today.
With the \f[CR]-w/--watch\f[R] option, when viewing a \[dq]current\[dq]
period (the current day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will
move automatically to track the current date.
To set a non-standard period, you can use \f[CR]/\f[R] and a
\f[CR]date:\f[R] query.
.PP
(Mac users: SHIFT-DOWN/UP keys do not work by default in Terminal, as of
MacOS Monterey.
You can configure them as follows: open Terminal, press CMD-comma to
open preferences, click Profiles, select your current terminal profile
on the left, click Keyboard on the right, click + and add this for
Shift-Down: \f[CR]\[rs]033[1;2B\f[R], click + and add this for Shift-Up:
\f[CR]\[rs]033[1;2A\f[R].
Press the Escape key to enter the \f[CR]\[rs]033\f[R] part, you
can\[aq]t type it directly.)
.PP
\f[CR]/\f[R] lets you set a general filter query limiting the data
shown, using the same query terms as in hledger and hledger-web.
While editing the query, you can use CTRL-a/e/d/k, BS, cursor keys;
press \f[CR]ENTER\f[R] to set it, or \f[CR]ESCAPE\f[R]to cancel.
There are also keys for quickly adjusting some common filters like
account depth and transaction status (see below).
\f[CR]BACKSPACE\f[R] or \f[CR]DELETE\f[R] removes all filters, showing
all transactions.
.PP
As mentioned above, by default hledger-ui hides future transactions -
both ordinary transactions recorded in the journal, and periodic
transactions generated by rule.
\f[CR]F\f[R] toggles forecast mode, in which future/forecasted
transactions are shown.
.PP
\f[CR]ESCAPE\f[R] resets the UI state and jumps back to the top screen,
restoring the app\[aq]s initial state at startup.
Or, it cancels minibuffer data entry or the help dialog.
.PP
\f[CR]CTRL-l\f[R] redraws the screen and centers the selection if
possible (selections near the top won\[aq]t be centered, since we
don\[aq]t scroll above the top).
.PP
\f[CR]g\f[R] reloads from the data file(s) and updates the current
screen and any previous screens.
(With large files, this could cause a noticeable pause.)
.PP
\f[CR]I\f[R] toggles balance assertion checking.
Disabling balance assertions temporarily can be useful for
troubleshooting.
.PP
\f[CR]a\f[R] runs command-line hledger\[aq]s add command, and reloads
the updated file.
This allows some basic data entry.
.PP
\f[CR]A\f[R] is like \f[CR]a\f[R], but runs the hledger-iadd tool, which
provides a terminal interface.
This key will be available if \f[CR]hledger-iadd\f[R] is installed in
$path.
.PP
\f[CR]E\f[R] runs $HLEDGER_UI_EDITOR, or $EDITOR, or a default
(\f[CR]emacsclient -a \[dq]\[dq] -nw\f[R]) on the journal file.
With some editors (emacs, vi), the cursor will be positioned at the
current transaction when invoked from the register and transaction
screens, and at the error location (if possible) when invoked from the
error screen.
.PP
\f[CR]B\f[R] toggles cost mode, showing amounts converted to their
cost\[aq]s commodity (see hledger manual > Cost reporting.
.PP
\f[CR]V\f[R] toggles value mode, showing amounts converted to their
market value (see hledger manual > Valuation flag).
More specifically,
.IP "1." 3
By default, the \f[CR]V\f[R] key toggles showing end value
(\f[CR]--value=end\f[R]) on or off.
The valuation date will be the report end date if specified, otherwise
today.
.IP "2." 3
If you started hledger-ui with some other valuation (such as
\f[CR]--value=then,EUR\f[R]), the \f[CR]V\f[R] key toggles that off or
on.
.PP
Cost/value tips: - When showing end value, you can change the report end
date without restarting, by pressing \f[CR]/\f[R] and adding a query
like \f[CR]date:..YYYY-MM-DD\f[R].
- Either cost mode, or value mode, can be active, but not both at once.
Cost mode takes precedence.
- There\[aq]s not yet any visual indicator that cost or value mode is
active, other than the amount values.
.PP
\f[CR]q\f[R] quits the application.
.PP
Additional screen-specific keys are described below.
.SH SCREENS
At startup, hledger-ui shows a menu screen by default.
From here you can navigate to other screens using the cursor keys:
\f[CR]UP\f[R]/\f[CR]DOWN\f[R] to select, \f[CR]RIGHT\f[R] to move to the
selected screen, \f[CR]LEFT\f[R] to return to the previous screen.
Or you can use \f[CR]ESC\f[R] to return directly to the top menu screen.
.PP
You can also use a command line flag to specific a different startup
screen (\f[CR]--cs\f[R], \f[CR]--bs\f[R], \f[CR]--is\f[R],
\f[CR]--all\f[R], or \f[CR]--register=ACCT\f[R]).
.SS Menu
This is the top-most screen.
From here you can navigate to several screens listing accounts of
various types.
Note some of these may not show anything until you have configured
account types.
.SS Cash accounts
This screen shows \[dq]cash\[dq] (ie, liquid asset) accounts (like
\f[CR]hledger balancesheet type:c\f[R]).
It always shows balances (historical ending balances on the date shown
in the title line).
.SS Balance sheet accounts
This screen shows asset, liability and equity accounts (like
\f[CR]hledger balancesheetequity\f[R]).
It always shows balances.
.SS Income statement accounts
This screen shows revenue and expense accounts (like
\f[CR]hledger incomestatement\f[R]).
It always shows changes (balance changes in the period shown in the
title line).
.SS All accounts
This screen shows all accounts in your journal (unless filtered by a
query; like \f[CR]hledger balance\f[R]).
It shows balances by default; you can toggle showing changes with the
\f[CR]H\f[R] key.
.SS Register
This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account.
Each line represents one transaction, and shows:
.IP \[bu] 2
the other account(s) involved, in abbreviated form.
(If there are both real and virtual postings, it shows only the accounts
affected by real postings.)
.IP \[bu] 2
the overall change to the current account\[aq]s balance; positive for an
inflow to this account, negative for an outflow.
.IP \[bu] 2
the running total after the transaction.
With the \f[CR]H\f[R] key you can toggle between
.RS 2
.IP \[bu] 2
the period total, which is from just the transactions displayed
.IP \[bu] 2
or the historical total, which includes any undisplayed transactions
before the start of the report period (and matching the filter query if
any).
This will be the running historical balance (what you would see on a
bank\[aq]s website, eg) if not disturbed by a query.
.RE
.PP
Note, this screen combines each transaction\[aq]s in-period postings to
a single line item, dated with the earliest in-period transaction or
posting date (like hledger\[aq]s \f[CR]aregister\f[R]).
So custom posting dates can cause the running balance to be temporarily
inaccurate.
(See hledger manual > aregister and posting dates.)
.PP
Transactions affecting this account\[aq]s subaccounts will be included
in the register if the accounts screen is in tree mode, or if it\[aq]s
in list mode but this account has subaccounts which are not shown due to
a depth limit.
In other words, the register always shows the transactions contributing
to the balance shown on the accounts screen.
Tree mode/list mode can be toggled with \f[CR]t\f[R] here also.
.PP
\f[CR]U\f[R] toggles filtering by unmarked status, showing or hiding
unmarked transactions.
Similarly, \f[CR]P\f[R] toggles pending transactions, and \f[CR]C\f[R]
toggles cleared transactions.
(By default, transactions with all statuses are shown; if you activate
one or two status filters, only those transactions are shown; and if you
activate all three, the filter is removed.)
.PP
\f[CR]R\f[R] toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored.
.PP
\f[CR]z\f[R] toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a
nonzero change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike
command-line hledger).
.PP
Press \f[CR]RIGHT\f[R] to view the selected transaction in detail.
.SS Transaction
This screen shows a single transaction, as a general journal entry,
similar to hledger\[aq]s print command and journal format
(hledger_journal(5)).
.PP
The transaction\[aq]s date(s) and any cleared flag, transaction code,
description, comments, along with all of its account postings are shown.
Simple transactions have two postings, but there can be more (or in
certain cases, fewer).
.PP
\f[CR]UP\f[R] and \f[CR]DOWN\f[R] will step through all transactions
listed in the previous account register screen.
In the title bar, the numbers in parentheses show your position within
that account register.
They will vary depending on which account register you came from
(remember most transactions appear in multiple account registers).
The #N number preceding them is the transaction\[aq]s position within
the complete unfiltered journal, which is a more stable id (at least
until the next reload).
.PP
On this screen (and the register screen), the \f[CR]E\f[R] key will open
your text editor with the cursor positioned at the current transaction
if possible.
.PP
This screen has a limitation with showing file updates: it will not show
them until you exit and re-enter it.
So eg to see the effect of using the \f[CR]E\f[R] key, currently you
must: - press \f[CR]E\f[R], edit and save the file, then exit the
editor, returning to hledger-ui - press \f[CR]g\f[R] to reload the file
(or use \f[CR]-w/--watch\f[R] mode) - press \f[CR]LEFT\f[R] then
\f[CR]RIGHT\f[R] to exit and re-enter the transaction screen.
.SS Error
This screen will appear if there is a problem, such as a parse error,
when you press g to reload.
Once you have fixed the problem, press g again to reload and resume
normal operation.
(Or, you can press escape to cancel the reload attempt.)
.SH TIPS
.SS Watch mode
One of hledger-ui\[aq]s best features is the auto-reloading
\f[CR]-w/--watch\f[R] mode.
With this flag, it will update the display automatically whenever
changes are saved to the data files.
.PP
This is very useful when reconciling.
A good workflow is to have your bank\[aq]s online register open in a
browser window, for reference; the journal file open in an editor
window; and hledger-ui in watch mode in a terminal window, eg:
.IP
.EX
$ hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C
.EE
.PP
As you mark things cleared in the editor, you can see the effect
immediately without having to context switch.
This leaves more mental bandwidth for your accounting.
Of course you can still interact with hledger-ui when needed, eg to
toggle cleared mode, or to explore the history.
.PP
There are currently some limitations with \f[CR]--watch\f[R]:
.PP
It may not work correctly for you, depending on platform or system
configuration.
(Eg #836.)
.PP
At least on mac, there can be a slow build-up of CPU usage over time,
until the program is restarted (or, suspending and restarting with
\f[CR]CTRL-z\f[R] \f[CR]fg\f[R] may be enough).
.PP
It will not detect file changes made by certain editors, such as
Jetbrains IDEs or \f[CR]gedit\f[R], or on certain less common
filesystems.
(To work around, press \f[CR]g\f[R] to reload manually, or try
#1617\[aq]s \f[CR]fs.inotify.max_user_watches\f[R] workaround and let us
know.)
.PP
If you are viewing files mounted from another machine, the system clocks
on both machines should be roughly in agreement.
.SS Debug output
You can add \f[CR]--debug[=N]\f[R] to the command line to log debug
output.
This will be logged to the file \f[CR]hledger-ui.log\f[R] in the current
directory.
N ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9 (maximum output).
.SH ENVIRONMENT
\f[B]COLUMNS\f[R] The screen width to use.
Default: the full terminal width.
.PP
\f[B]LEDGER_FILE\f[R] The main journal file to use when not specified
with \f[CR]-f/--file\f[R].
Default: \f[CR]$HOME/.hledger.journal\f[R].
.SH BUGS
We welcome bug reports in the hledger issue tracker (shortcut:
http://bugs.hledger.org), or on the #hledger chat or hledger mail list
(https://hledger.org/support).
.PP
Some known issues:
.PP
\f[CR]-f-\f[R] doesn\[aq]t work (hledger-ui can\[aq]t read from stdin).
.PP
If you press \f[CR]g\f[R] with large files, there could be a noticeable
pause.
.PP
The Transaction screen does not update from file changes until you exit
and re-endter it (see SCREENS > Transaction above).
.PP
\f[CR]--watch\f[R] is not yet fully robust on all platforms (see Watch
mode above).


.SH AUTHORS
Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
.br
See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html

.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.

.SH LICENSE
Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.

.SH SEE ALSO
hledger(1), hledger\-ui(1), hledger\-web(1), ledger(1)