2.6 KiB
% hledger_timedot(5) % % February 2016
NAME
hledger_timedot - time logging format
DESCRIPTION
Timedot is a plain text format for logging dated, categorised quantities (eg time), supported by hledger. It is convenient for approximate and retroactive time logging, eg when the real-time clock-in/out required with a timeclock file is too precise or too interruptive. It can be formatted like a bar chart, making clear at a glance where time was spent.
Though called "timedot", the format does not specify the commodity being logged, so could represent other dated, quantifiable things. Eg you could record a single-entry journal of financial transactions, perhaps slightly more conveniently than with hledger_journal(5) format.
Format
A timedot file contains a series of day entries. A day entry begins with a date, and is followed by category/quantity pairs, one per line. Dates are hledger-style simple dates (see hledger_journal(5)). Categories are hledger-style account names, optionally indented. There must be at least two spaces between the category and the quantity. Quantities can be written in two ways:
-
a series of dots (period characters). Each dot represents "a quarter" - eg, a quarter hour. Spaces can be used to group dots into hours, for easier counting.
-
a number (integer or decimal), representing "units" - eg, hours. A good alternative when dots are cumbersome. (A number also can record negative quantities.)
Blank lines and lines beginning with #, ; or * are ignored. An example:
# on this day, 6h was spent on client work, 1.5h on haskell FOSS work, etc.
2016/2/1
inc:client1 .... .... .... .... .... ....
fos:haskell .... ..
biz:research .
2016/2/2
inc:client1 .... ....
biz:research .
Or with numbers:
2016/2/1
inc:client1 6
fos:haskell 1.5
biz:research .25
I prefer . (period) for separating account components:
2016/2/3
fos.hledger.timedot 4
biz.research 1
hledger requires : (colon), so rewrite them with --alias:
$ hledger -f t.timedot --alias /\\./=: bal -W
default year directives may be used.
Here is a sample.timedot.