
HLEDGER-UI(1)                hledger User Manuals                HLEDGER-UI(1)



NAME
       hledger-ui  is  a  terminal  interface (TUI) for the hledger accounting
       tool.  This manual is for hledger-ui 1.25.

SYNOPSIS
       hledger-ui [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]
       hledger ui -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS]

DESCRIPTION
       hledger is a reliable, 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).

       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 hledger journal,
       timeclock, timedot, or CSV format specified with -f,  or  $LEDGER_FILE,
       or        $HOME/.hledger.journal       (on       windows,       perhaps
       C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).  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

       --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), or the blank area at bottom of
         screen, 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 goes deeper, LEFT returns to the previ-
       ous  screen, UP/DOWN/PGUP/PGDN/HOME/END move up and down through lists.
       Emacs-style (CTRL-p/CTRL-n/CTRL-f/CTRL-b) movement keys are  also  sup-
       ported  (but  not  vi-style  keys, since hledger-1.19, sorry!).  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.

       / 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 transaction price's  com-
       modity (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
   Accounts screen
       This is normally the first screen displayed.   It  lists  accounts  and
       their  balances,  like hledger's balance command.  By default, it shows
       all accounts and their latest ending balances (including  the  balances
       of  subaccounts).   Accounts  which  have been declared with an account
       directive are also listed, even if not yet used (except for empty  par-
       ent  accounts).   If  you specify a query on the command line, it shows
       just the matched accounts and the balances from matched transactions.

       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.  His-
       torical  balances  (the  default) are ending 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.

       z toggles nonzero mode, in which only accounts  with  nonzero  balances
       are  shown (hledger-ui shows zero items by default, unlike command-line
       hledger).

       Press RIGHT to view an account's transactions register.

   Register screen
       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 screen
       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 screen
       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.

   Watch mode limitations
       There  are  situations  in which it won't work, ie the display will not
       update when you save a change (because the underlying  inotify  library
       does not support it).  Here are some that we know of:

       o Certain  editors:  saving  with gedit, and perhaps any Gnome applica-
         tion, won't be detected (#1617).  Jetbrains IDEs, such as IDEA,  also
         may not work (#911).

       o Certain  unusual  filesystems might not be supported.  (All the usual
         ones on unix, mac and windows are supported.)

       In such cases, the workaround is to switch to the hledger-ui window and
       press  g  each  time  you  want it to reload.  (Actually, see #1617 for
       another workaround, and let us know if it works for you.)

       If you leave hledger-ui --watch running for days, on certain  platforms
       (?),  perhaps  with many transactions in your journal (?), perhaps with
       large numbers of other files present (?),  you  may  see  it  gradually
       using  more and more memory and CPU over time, as seen in top or Activ-
       ity Monitor or Task Manager.

       A workaround is to quit and restart it, or to suspend it  (CTRL-z)  and
       restart it (fg) if your shell supports that.

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\MyUser-
       Name\.hledger.journal.   You  can change this by running a command like
       this in a powershell window:

              > setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal"

       (Let us know if you need to be an Administrator, and if  this  persists
       across a reboot.)

FILES
       Reads  data from one or more files in hledger journal, timeclock, time-
       dot,  or  CSV  format  specified   with   -f,   or   $LEDGER_FILE,   or
       $HOME/.hledger.journal           (on          windows,          perhaps
       C:/Users/USER/.hledger.journal).

BUGS
       The need to precede options with -- when invoked from hledger  is  awk-
       ward.

       -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 IRC  channel
       or hledger mail list)


AUTHORS
       Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors


COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2007-2020 Simon Michael.
       Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.


SEE ALSO
       hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)



hledger-ui-1.25                   March 2022                     HLEDGER-UI(1)
