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hledger/hledger-ui/hledger-ui.txt
Simon Michael 9ceb74062d ;doc: update manuals
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HLEDGER-UI(1) hledger User Manuals HLEDGER-UI(1)
NAME
hledger-ui - robust, friendly plain text accounting (TUI version)
SYNOPSIS
hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]
hledger ui -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]
DESCRIPTION
This manual is for hledger's terminal interface, version 1.29.99. See
also the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats.
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).
hledger-ui is hledger'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's command-
line interface, and sometimes quicker and more convenient than the web
interface.
Like hledger, it reads data from one or more files in journal, time-
clock, timedot, or CSV format. The default file is .hledger.journal in
your home directory; this can be overridden with one or more -f FILE
options, or the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. For more about this
see hledger(1), hledger_journal(5) etc.
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 "forecast mode".
OPTIONS
Note: if invoking hledger-ui as a hledger subcommand, write -- before
options as shown above.
Any QUERYARGS are interpreted as a hledger search query which filters
the data.
-w --watch
watch for data and date changes and reload automatically
--theme=default|terminal|greenterm
use this custom display theme
--menu start in the menu screen
--all start in the all accounts screen
--bs start in the balance sheet accounts screen
--is start in the income statement accounts screen
--register=ACCTREGEX
start in the (first) matched account's register screen
--change
show period balances (changes) at startup instead of historical
balances
-l --flat
show accounts as a flat list (default)
-t --tree
show accounts as a tree
hledger input options:
-f FILE --file=FILE
use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default:
$LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal)
--rules-file=RULESFILE
Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default:
FILE.rules)
--separator=CHAR
Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',')
--alias=OLD=NEW
rename accounts named OLD to NEW
--anon anonymize accounts and payees
--pivot FIELDNAME
use some other field or tag for the account name
-I --ignore-assertions
disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance
assignments)
-s --strict
do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are
declared)
hledger reporting options:
-b --begin=DATE
include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to
preceding subperiod start when using a report interval)
-e --end=DATE
include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol-
lowing subperiod end when using a report interval)
-D --daily
multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
-W --weekly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
-M --monthly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
-Q --quarterly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
-Y --yearly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
-p --period=PERIODEXP
set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once
using period expressions syntax
--date2
match the secondary date instead (see command help for other
effects)
--today=DATE
override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for
tests/examples)
-U --unmarked
include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C)
-P --pending
include only pending postings/txns
-C --cleared
include only cleared postings/txns
-R --real
include only non-virtual postings
-NUM --depth=NUM
hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep
-E --empty
show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in
hledger-ui/hledger-web)
-B --cost
convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time
-V --market
convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com-
modities
-X --exchange=COMM
convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM
--value
convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than
-B/-V/-X
--infer-market-prices
use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional
market prices, as if they were P directives
--auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions.
--forecast
generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules,
for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui,
also make ordinary future transactions visible.
--commodity-style
Override the commodity style in the output for the specified
commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'.
--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)
Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text
output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-
supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when
piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A
NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this.
--pretty[=WHEN]
Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac-
ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always',
'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use
'=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'.
When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the
last one takes precedence.
Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments.
hledger help options:
-h --help
show general or COMMAND help
--man show general or COMMAND user manual with man
--info show general or COMMAND user manual with info
--version
show general or ADDONCMD version
--debug[=N]
show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)
A @FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which should
contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent this,
insert a -- argument before.)
MOUSE
In most modern terminals, you can navigate through the screens with a
mouse or touchpad:
o Use mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll up and down
o Click on list items to go deeper
o Click on the left margin (column 0) to go back.
KEYS
Keyboard gives more control.
? shows a help dialog listing all keys. (Some of these also appear in
the quick help at the bottom of each screen.) Press ? again (or
ESCAPE, or LEFT, or q) to close it. The following keys work on most
screens:
The cursor keys navigate: RIGHT or ENTER goes deeper, LEFT returns to
the previous screen, UP/DOWN/PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END move up and down
through lists. Emacs-style (CTRL-p/CTRL-n/CTRL-f/CTRL-b) and VI-style
(k,j,l,h) 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're on a mac, the karabiner app is one way to do
that.)
With shift pressed, the cursor keys adjust the report period, limiting
the transactions to be shown (by default, all are shown). SHIFT-
DOWN/UP steps downward and upward through these standard report period
durations: year, quarter, month, week, day. Then, SHIFT-LEFT/RIGHT
moves to the previous/next period. T sets the report period to today.
With the -w/--watch option, when viewing a "current" period (the cur-
rent day, week, month, quarter, or year), the period will move automat-
ically to track the current date. To set a non-standard period, you
can use / and a date: query.
(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 cur-
rent terminal profile on the left, click Keyboard on the right, click +
and add this for Shift-Down: \033[1;2B, click + and add this for Shift-
Up: \033[1;2A. Press the Escape key to enter the \033 part, you can't
type it directly.)
/ 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 ENTER to set
it, or ESCAPEto cancel. There are also keys for quickly adjusting some
common filters like account depth and transaction status (see below).
BACKSPACE or DELETE removes all filters, showing all transactions.
As mentioned above, by default hledger-ui hides future transactions -
both ordinary transactions recorded in the journal, and periodic trans-
actions generated by rule. F toggles forecast mode, in which
future/forecasted transactions are shown.
ESCAPE resets the UI state and jumps back to the top screen, restoring
the app's initial state at startup. Or, it cancels minibuffer data
entry or the help dialog.
CTRL-l redraws the screen and centers the selection if possible (selec-
tions near the top won't be centered, since we don't scroll above the
top).
g reloads from the data file(s) and updates the current screen and any
previous screens. (With large files, this could cause a noticeable
pause.)
I toggles balance assertion checking. Disabling balance assertions
temporarily can be useful for troubleshooting.
a runs command-line hledger's add command, and reloads the updated
file. This allows some basic data entry.
A is like a, but runs the hledger-iadd tool, which provides a terminal
interface. This key will be available if hledger-iadd is installed in
$path.
E runs $HLEDGER_UI_EDITOR, or $EDITOR, or a default (emacsclient -a ""
-nw) 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 possi-
ble) when invoked from the error screen.
B toggles cost mode, showing amounts in their cost's commodity (like
toggling the -B/--cost flag).
V toggles value mode, showing amounts' current market value in their
default valuation commodity (like toggling the -V/--market flag).
Note, "current market value" means the value on the report end date if
specified, otherwise today. To see the value on another date, you can
temporarily set that as the report end date. Eg: to see a transaction
as it was valued on july 30, go to the accounts or register screen,
press /, and add date:-7/30 to the query.
At most one of cost or value mode can be active at once.
There's not yet any visual reminder when cost or value mode is active;
for now pressing b b v should reliably reset to normal mode.
q quits the application.
Additional screen-specific keys are described below.
SCREENS
hledger-ui shows several different screens, described below. It shows
the "Balance sheet accounts" screen to start with, except in the fol-
lowing situations:
o If no asset/liability/equity accounts can be detected, or if an
account query has been given on the command line, it starts in the
"All accounts" screen.
o If a starting screen is specified with --menu/--all/--bs/--is/--reg-
ister on the command line, it starts in that screen.
From any screen you can press LEFT or ESC to navigate back to the top
level "Menu" screen.
Menu
The top-most screen. From here you can navigate to three accounts
screens:
All accounts
This screen shows all accounts (possibly filtered by a query), and
their end balances on the date shown in the title bar (or their balance
changes in the period shown in the title bar, toggleable with H). It
is like the hledger balance command.
Balance sheet accounts
This screen shows asset, liability and equity accounts, if these can be
detected (see account types). It always shows end balances. It is
like the hledger balancesheetequity command.
Income statement accounts
This screen shows revenue and expense accounts. It always shows bal-
ance changes. It is like the hledger incomestatement command.
All of these accounts screens work in much the same way:
They show accounts which have been posted to by transactions, as well
as accounts which have been declared with an account directive (except
for empty parent accounts).
If you specify a query on the command line or with / in the app, they
show just the matched accounts, and the balances from matched transac-
tions.
hledger-ui shows accounts with zero balances by default (unlike com-
mand-line hledger). To hide these, press z to toggle nonzero mode.
Account names are shown as a flat list by default; press t to toggle
tree mode. In list mode, account balances are exclusive of subac-
counts, except where subaccounts are hidden by a depth limit (see
below). In tree mode, all account balances are inclusive of subac-
counts.
To see less detail, press a number key, 1 to 9, to set a depth limit.
Or use - to decrease and +/= to increase the depth limit. 0 shows even
less detail, collapsing all accounts to a single total. To remove the
depth limit, set it higher than the maximum account depth, or press
ESCAPE.
H toggles between showing historical balances or period balances (on
the "All accounts" screen). Historical balances (the default) are end-
ing balances at the end of the report period, taking into account all
transactions before that date (filtered by the filter query if any),
including transactions before the start of the report period. In other
words, historical balances are what you would see on a bank statement
for that account (unless disturbed by a filter query). Period balances
ignore transactions before the report start date, so they show the
change in balance during the report period. They are more useful eg
when viewing a time log.
U toggles filtering by unmarked status, including or excluding unmarked
postings in the balances. Similarly, P toggles pending postings, and C
toggles cleared postings. (By default, balances include all postings;
if you activate one or two status filters, only those postings are
included; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.)
R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored.
Press RIGHT to view an account's register screen, Or, LEFT to see the
menu screen.
Register
This screen shows the transactions affecting a particular account, like
a check register. Each line represents one transaction and shows:
o 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.)
o the overall change to the current account's balance; positive for an
inflow to this account, negative for an outflow.
o the running historical total or period total for the current account,
after the transaction. This can be toggled with H. Similar to the
accounts screen, the historical total is affected by transactions
(filtered by the filter query) before the report start date, while
the period total is not. If the historical total is not disturbed by
a filter query, it will be the running historical balance you would
see on a bank register for the current account.
Transactions affecting this account's subaccounts will be included in
the register if the accounts screen is in tree mode, or if it'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 transac-
tions contributing to the balance shown on the accounts screen. Tree
mode/list mode can be toggled with t here also.
U toggles filtering by unmarked status, showing or hiding unmarked
transactions. Similarly, P toggles pending transactions, and C toggles
cleared transactions. (By default, transactions with all statuses are
shown; if you activate one or two status filters, only those transac-
tions are shown; and if you activate all three, the filter is removed.)
R toggles real mode, in which virtual postings are ignored.
z toggles nonzero mode, in which only transactions posting a nonzero
change are shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike com-
mand-line hledger).
Press RIGHT to view the selected transaction in detail.
Transaction
This screen shows a single transaction, as a general journal entry,
similar to hledger's print command and journal format (hledger_jour-
nal(5)).
The transaction'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).
UP and DOWN 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 trans-
actions appear in multiple account registers). The #N number preceding
them is the transaction's position within the complete unfiltered jour-
nal, which is a more stable id (at least until the next reload).
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.)
TIPS
Watch mode
One of hledger-ui's best features is the auto-reloading -w/--watch
mode. With this flag, it will update the display automatically when-
ever changes are saved to the data files.
This is very useful when reconciling. A good workflow is to have your
bank'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:
$ hledger-ui --watch --register checking -C
As you mark things cleared in the editor, you can see the effect imme-
diately 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.
Here are some current limitations to be aware of:
Changes might not be detected with certain editors, possibly including
Jetbrains IDEs, gedit, other Gnome applications; or on certain unusual
filesystems. (#1617, #911). To work around, reload manually by press-
ing g in the hledger-ui window. (Or see #1617 for another workaround,
and let us know if it works for you.)
CPU and memory usage can sometimes gradually increase, if hledger-ui
--watch is left running for days. (Possibly correlated with certain
platforms, many transactions, and/or large numbers of other files
present). To work around, quit and restart it, or (where supported)
suspend (CTRL-z) and restart it (fg).
Debug output
You can add --debug[=N] to the command line to log debug output. This
will be logged to the file hledger-ui.log in the current directory. N
ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9 (maximum output).
ENVIRONMENT
COLUMNS The screen width to use. Default: the full terminal width.
LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f.
On unix computers, the default value is: ~/.hledger.journal.
A more typical value is something like ~/finance/YYYY.journal, where
~/finance is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the
current year. Or, ~/finance/current.journal, where current.journal is
a symbolic link to YYYY.journal.
The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of
your shell's startup files (eg ~/.profile):
export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal`
On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment
variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg,
Emacs started from a dock icon): In ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, add an
entry like:
{
"LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal"
}
For this to take effect you might need to killall Dock, or reboot.
On Windows computers, the default value is probably C:\Users\YOUR-
NAME\.hledger.journal. You can change this by running a command like
this in a powershell window (let us know if you need to be an Adminis-
trator, and if this persists across a reboot):
> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal"
Or, change it in settings: see https://www.java.com/en/down-
load/help/path.html.
FILES
Reads data from one or more files in journal, timeclock, timedot, or
CSV format. The default file is .hledger.journal in your home direc-
tory; this can be overridden with one or more -f FILE options, or the
LEDGER_FILE environment variable.
BUGS
-f- doesn't work (hledger-ui can't read from stdin).
-V affects only the accounts screen.
When you press g, the current and all previous screens are regenerated,
which may cause a noticeable pause with large files. Also there is no
visual indication that this is in progress.
--watch is not yet fully robust. It works well for normal usage, but
many file changes in a short time (eg saving the file thousands of
times with an editor macro) can cause problems at least on OSX. Symp-
toms include: unresponsive UI, periodic resetting of the cursor posi-
tion, momentary display of parse errors, high CPU usage eventually sub-
siding, and possibly a small but persistent build-up of CPU usage until
the program is restarted.
Also, if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, -w/--watch
requires that both machine clocks are roughly in step.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger chat or
hledger mail list)
AUTHORS
Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.
LICENSE
Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.
SEE ALSO
hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)
hledger-ui-1.29.99 March 2023 HLEDGER-UI(1)
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