Ubuntu Manpage: ledger — Command-line, double-entry account reporting tool

NAME

       ledger — Command-line, double-entry account reporting tool

SYNOPSIS

       ledger [options] [command] [arguments]

DESCRIPTION

       ledger  is a command-line accounting tool based on the power and completeness of double-entry accounting.
       It is only a reporting tool, which means it never modifies your data files, but it  does  offer  a  large
       selection of reports, and different ways to customize them to your needs.

COMMANDS

ledger accepts several top-level commands, each of which generates a different kind of basic report.
Most of them accept a report-query argument, in order to determine what should be reported. To
understand the syntax of a report-query, see the section on “QUERIES”. In its most basic form, simply
specifying one or more strings produces a report for all accounts containing those strings.

If no command is given, ledger enters a REPL, or command loop, allowing several commands to be executed
on the same dataset without reparsing.

The following is a complete list of accepted reporting commands:

accounts [report-query]
List all accounts for postings that match the report-query.

balance [report-query]
Print a balance report showing totals for postings that match report-query, and aggregate totals
for parents of those accounts. Options most commonly used with this command are:
--basis (-B) Report in terms of cost basis, not amount or value. This is the only form of
report which is guaranteed to always balance to zero, when no report-query is
specified. Only show totals for the top-most accounts.
--empty (-E) Show accounts whose total is zero.
--flat Rather than display a hierarchical tree, flatten the report to show subtotals
for only accounts matching report-query.
--no-total Suppress the summary total shown at the bottom of the report.

The synonyms bal and b are also accepted.

budget [report-query]
A special balance report which includes three extra columns: the amount budgeted during the
reporting period, how spending differed from the budget, and the percentage of budget spent
(exceeds 100% if you go over budget). Note that budgeting requires one or more “periodic
transactions” to be defined in your data file(s). See the manual for more information.

cleared [report-query]
A special balance report which adds two extra columns: the cleared balance for each account, and
the date of the most recent cleared posting in that account. For this accounting to be
meaningful, the cleared flag must be set on at least one posting. See the manual for more
information.

commodities [report-query]
List all commodities for postings matching the report-query.

convert Reads data from a CSV (comma-separated values) file and generates ledger transactions.

csv [report-query]
Report of postings matching the report-query in CSV format (comma-separated values). Useful for
exporting data to a spreadsheet for further analysis or charting.

entry [entry-template]
Generate and display a new, properly formatted ledger transaction by comparing the
entry-template to the transactions in your data file(s). For more information on draft
templates and using this command to quickly create new transactions, see the section “ENTRIES”.

The synonym xact is also accepted.

emacs [query]
Output posting and transaction data in a format readily consumed by the Emacs editor, in a
series of Lisp forms. This is used by the Emacs ledger-mode to process reporting data from
ledger.

equity [report-query]
Print a transaction with a series of postings that balance current totals for accounts matching
the report-query in a special account called Equity:Opening Balances. The purpose of this
report is to close the books for a prior year, while using these equity postings to carry
forward those balances.

payees [report-query]
List all payees for postings matching the report-query.

pricemap
Produce a file which can be used to generate a graph with graphviz showing the relationship of
commodities in the ledger file.

prices [report-query]
Report prices for all commodities in postings matching the report-query. The prices are
reported with the granularity of a single day.

pricedb [report-query]
Report prices for all commodities in postings matching the report-query. Prices are reported
down to the second, using the same format as the ~/.pricedb file.

print [report-query]
Print out the full transactions of any matching postings using the same format as they would
appear in a data file. This can be used to extract subsets from a ledger file to transfer to
other files.

push [options]
In the REPL, push a set of command-line options, so that they will apply to all subsequent
reports.

pop In the REPL, pop any option settings that have been pushed.

register [report-query]
List all postings matching the report-query. This is one of the most common commands, and can
be used to provide a variety of useful reports. Options most commonly used with this command
are:

--average (-A) Show the running average, rather than a running total.
--current (-c) Don't show postings beyond the present day.
--exchange commodity (-X)
Render all values in the given commodity, if a price conversion rate can be
determined. Rates are always displayed relative to the date of the posting
they are calculated for. This means a register report is a historical value
report. For current values, it may be preferable to use the balance report.
--gain (-G) Show any gains (or losses) in commodity values over time.
--head number Only show the top number postings.
--historical (-H)
Value commodities at the time of their acquisition.
--invert Invert the value of amounts shown.
--market (-V) Show current market values for all amounts. This is determined in a somewhat
magical fashion. It is probably more straightforward to use --exchange option.
--period time-period (-p)
Show postings only for the given time-period.
--related (-r) Show postings that are related to those that would have been shown. It has the
effect of displaying the "other side" of the postings.
--sort value-expression (-S)
Sort postings by evaluating the given value-expression. Note that a comma-
separated list of expressions is allowed, in which case each sorting term is
used in order to determine the final ordering. For example, to search by date
and then amount, one would use:
ledger reg --sort 'date, amount'
The sort order may be controlled with the '-' sign. For example, to sort in
reverse chronological order:
ledger reg --sort '-date'
--tail number Only show the last number postings.
--uncleared (-U)
Only show uncleared (i.e., recent) postings.

There are also several grouping options that can be useful:

--by-payee (-P) Group postings by common payee names.
--daily (-D) Group postings by day.
--weekly (-W) Group postings by week (starting on Sundays).
--start-of-week day
Set the start of each report grouped by week to the given day.
--monthly (-M) Group postings by month.
--quarterly Group postings by fiscal quarter.
--yearly (-Y) Group postings by year.
--days-of-week Group postings by the day of the week on which they took place.
--subtotal (-s) Group all postings together. This is very similar to the totals shown by the
balance report.

The synonyms reg and r are also accepted.

server This command requires that Python support be active. If so, it starts up an HTTP server
listening for requests on port 9000. This provides an alternate interface to creating and
viewing reports. Note that this is very much a work-in-progress, and will not be fully
functional until a later version.

select [sql-query]
List all postings matching the sql-query. This command allows to generate SQL-like queries,
e.g.:
ledger select date,amount from posts where account=~/Income/

source Parse a journal file and checks it for errors. ledger will return success if no errors are
found.

stats [report-query]
Provide summary information about all the postings matching report-query. It provides
information such as:
• Time range of all matching postings
• Unique payees
• Unique accounts
• Postings total
• Uncleared postings
• Days since last posting
• Posts in the last 7 days
• Posts in the last 30 days
• Posts this month

xml [report-query]
Output data relating to the current report in XML format. It includes all accounts and
commodities involved in the report, plus the postings and the transactions they are contained
in. See the manual for more information.

OPTIONS

--abbrev-len INT
Set the minimum length an account can be abbreviated to if it doesn't fit inside the
account-width. If INT is zero, then the account name will be truncated on the right. If INT is
greater than account-width then the account will be truncated on the left, with no shortening of
the account names in order to fit into the desired width.

--account EXPR
Prepend EXPR to all accounts reported. That is, the option --account "'Personal'" would tack
Personal: and --account "tag('VAT')" would tack the value of the VAT tag to the beginning of
every account reported in a balance or register report.

--account-width INT
Set the width of the account column in the register report to INT characters.

--actual (-L)
Report only real transactions, with no automated or virtual transactions used.

--add-budget
Show only un-budgeted postings.

--amount EXPR (-t)
Apply the given value expression to the posting amount. Using --amount EXPR you can apply an
arbitrary transformation to the postings.

--amount-data (-j)
On a register report print only the dates and amount of postings. Useful for graphing and
spreadsheet applications.

--amount-width INT
Set the width in characters of the amount column in the register report.

--anon Anonymize registry output, mostly for sending in bug reports.

--ansi Use color if the terminal supports it. Alias for --color

--args-only
Ignore init files and environment variables for the ledger run.

--auto-match
When generating a ledger transaction from a CSV file using the convert command, automatically
match an account from the Ledger journal.

--aux-date
Show auxiliary dates for all calculations. Alias for --effective

--average (-A)
Print average values over the number of transactions instead of running totals.

--average-lot-prices
Report the average price at which each commodity was purchased in a balance report.

--balance-format FMT
Specify the format to use for the balance report.

--base Reduce convertible commodities down the bottom of the conversion, e.g. display time in seconds.

--basis (-B)
Report the cost basis on all posting. Alias for --cost

--begin DATE (-b)
Specify the start DATE of all calculations. Transactions before that date will be ignored.

--bold-if EXPR
Print the entire line in bold if the given value expression is true.

--budget
Only display budgeted items. In a register report this displays transaction in the budget, in a
balance report this displays accounts in the budget.

--budget-format FMT
Specify the format to use for the budget report.

--by-payee (-P)
Group postings in the register report by common payee names.

--check-payees
Enable strict and pedantic checking for payees as well as accounts, commodities and tags.

--cleared (-C)
Display only cleared postings.

--cleared-format FMT
Specify the format to use for the cleared report

--collapse (-n)
Print only the top level accounts.

--collapse-if-zero
Collapse the account display only if it has a zero balance.

--color Use color if the terminal supports it. Alias for --ansi

--columns INT
Make the register report INT characters wide. By default ledger will use all available columns
in your terminal.

--cost Report the cost basis on all posting. Alias for --basis.

--count Direct ledger to report the number of items when appended to the commodities, accounts or payees
commands.

--csv-format FMT
Format csv report according to FMT.

--current (-c)
Shorthand for --limit 'date <= today'.

--daily (-D)
Shorthand for --period daily.

--date EXPR
Transform the date of the transaction using EXPR.

--date-format DATEFMT (-y)
Print dates using DATEFMT. Refer to strftime(3) for details on the format string syntax.

--datetime-format DATETIMEFMT
Print datetimes using DATETIMEFMT. Refer to strftime(3) for details on the format string
syntax.

--date-width INT
Specify the width, in characters, of the date column in the register report.

--day-break
Break up register report of timelog entries that span multiple days by day.

--days-of-week
Group transactions by the days of the week. Alias for --dow.

--dc Display register or balance in debit/credit format If you use --dc with either the register or
balance commands, you will now get separate columns for debits and credits.

--debug STR
If ledger has been built with debug options this will provide extra data during the run.

--decimal-comma
Direct ledger to parse journals using the European standard comma as decimal separator, vice a
period.

--depth INT
Limit the depth of the account tree. In a balance report, for example, --depth 2 will print
balances only for accounts with two levels, i.e. Expenses:Entertainment but not
Expenses:Entertainment:Dining. This is a display predicate, which means it only affects
display, not the total calculations.

--detail
Related to convert command. Synonym to --rich-data option.

--deviation
Report each posting's deviation from the average. It is only meaningful in the register and
prices reports.

--display EXPR (-d)
Display lines that satisfy the expression EXPR.

--display-amount EXPR
Apply a transformation to the displayed amount. This occurs after calculations occur.

--display-total EXPR
Apply a transformation to the displayed total. This occurs after calculations occur.

--dow Group transactions by the days of the week. Alias for --days-of-week.

--download
Cause quotes to be automagically downloaded, as needed, by running a script named getquote and
expecting that script to return a value understood by ledger. A sample implementation of a
getquote script, implemented in Perl, is provided in the distribution. Downloaded quote price
are then appended to the price database, usually specified using the environment variable
LEDGER_PRICE_DB.

--effective
Show auxiliary dates for all calculations. Alias for --aux-date.

--empty (-E)
Include empty accounts in report.

--end DATE (-e)
Constrain the report so that transactions on or after DATE are not considered.

--equity
Related to the equity command. Gives current account balances in the form of a register report.

--exact Report beginning and ending of periods by the date of the first and last posting occurring in
that period.

--exchange COMMODITY [, COMMODITY, ...] (-X)
Display values in terms of the given COMMODITY. The latest available price is used.

--file FILE (-f)
Read journal data from FILE.

--first INT
Print the first INT entries. Opposite of --last INT. Alias for --head.

--flat Force the full names of accounts to be used in the balance report. The balance report will not
use an indented tree.

--force-color
Output TTY color codes even if the TTY doesn't support them. Useful for TTYs that don't
advertise their capabilities correctly.

--force-pager
Force ledger to paginate its output.

--forecast-while EXPR
Continue forecasting while VEXPR is true. Alias for --forecast.

--forecast-years INT
Forecast at most INT years into the future.

--format FMT (-F)
Use the given format string FMT to print output.

--gain (-G)
Report net gain or loss for commodities that have a price history.

--generated
Include auto-generated postings (such as those from automated transactions) in the report, in
cases where you normally wouldn't want them.

--group-by EXPR
Group transaction together in the register report. EXPR can be anything, although most common
would be payee or commodity. The tag() function is also useful here.

--group-title-format FMT
Set the format for the headers that separate reports section of a grouped report. Only has
effect with a --group-by EXPR register report.

--head INT
Print the first INT entries. Opposite of --tail INT. Alias for --first

--help Print this man page.

--immediate
Evaluate calculations immediately rather than lazily.

--import FILE
Import FILE as Python module.

--init-file FILE (-i)
Read FILE before any other ledger file. This file may not contain any postings, but it may
contain option settings. To specify options in the init file, use the same syntax as the
command-line, but put each option on its own line.

--inject STR
Use STR amounts in calculations. In case you know what amount a transaction should be, but the
actual transaction has the wrong value you can use metadata STR to specify the expected amount.

--input-date-format DATEFMT
Specify the input date format for journal entries.

--invert
Change the sign of all reported values.

--last INT.
Report only the last INT entries. Opposite of --first INT. Only useful on a register report.
Alias for --tail.

--leeway INT (-Z)
Alias for --price-expr.

--limit EXPR (-l)
Limit postings in calculations.

--lot-dates
Report the date on which each commodity in a balance report was purchased.

--lot-notes
Report the tag attached to each commodity in a balance report.

--lot-prices
Report the price at which each commodity in a balance report was purchased.

--lots Report the date and price at which each commodity was purchased in a balance report.

--lots-actual
Preserve the uniqueness of commodities so they aren't merged during reporting without printing
the lot annotations.

--market (-V)
Use the latest market value for all commodities.

--master-account STR
Prepend all account names with STR

--meta STR
In the register report, prepend the transaction with the value of the given tag STR.

--meta-width INT
Specify the width of the Meta column used for the --meta TAG options.

--monthly (-M)
Shorthand for --period monthly.

--no-aliases
Aliases are completely ignored.

--no-color
Suppress any color TTY output.

--no-pager
Disables the pager on TTY output.

--no-revalued
Stop ledger from showing <Revalued> postings.

--no-rounding
Don't output "<Adjustment>" postings. Note that this will cause the running total to often not
add up! Its main use is for --amount-data (-j) and --total-data (-J) reports.

--no-titles
Suppress the output of group titles.

--no-total
Suppress printing the final total line in a balance report.

--now DATE
Use DATE as the current date. This affects the output when using --period, --begin, --end, or
--current to decide which dates lie in the past or future.

--only EXPR
This is a postings predicate that applies after certain transforms have been executed, such as
periodic gathering.

--options
Display the options in effect for this ledger invocation, along with their values and the source
of those values.

--output FILE (-o)
Redirect the output of ledger to FILE.

--pager STR
Use STR as the pager program.

--payee Sets a value expression for formatting the payee. In the register report this prevents the
second entry from having a date and payee for each transaction.

--payee-width INT
Set the number of columns dedicated to the payee in the register report to INT.

--pedantic
Accounts, tags or commodities not previously declared will cause errors.

--pending
Use only postings that are marked pending.

--percent (-%)
Calculate the percentage value of each account in a balance reports. Only works for account
that have a single commodity.

--period PERIOD (-p)
Define a period expression that sets the time period during which transactions are to be
accounted. For a register report only the transactions that satisfy the period expression with
be displayed. For a balance report only those transactions will be accounted in the final
balances.

--period-sort
Sort the posting within transactions using the given value expression.

--permissive
Quiet balance assertions.

--pivot TAG
Produce a balance pivot report "around" the given TAG.

--plot-amount-format FMT
Define the output format for an amount data plot.

--plot-total-format FMT
Define the output format for a total data plot.

--prepend-format FMT
Prepend FMT to every line of the output.

--prepend-width INT
Reserve INT spaces at the beginning of each line of the output.

--price (-I)
Use the price of the commodity purchase for performing calculations.

--price-db FILE

--price-exp STR (-Z)
Set the expected freshness of price quotes, in INT minutes. That is, if the last known quote
for any commodity is older than this value, and if --download is being used, then the Internet
will be consulted again for a newer price. Otherwise, the old price is still considered to be
fresh enough. Alias for --leeway.

--prices-format FMT
Set the format for the prices report.

--pricedb-format FMT
Set the format expected for the historical price file.

--primary-date
Show primary dates for all calculations. Alias for --actual-dates

--quantity (-O)
Report commodity totals (this is the default).

--quarterly
Shorthand for --period quarterly.

--raw In the print report, show transactions using the exact same syntax as specified by the user in
their data file. Don't do any massaging or interpreting. Can be useful for minor cleanups,
like just aligning amounts.

--real (-R)
Account using only real transactions ignoring virtual and automatic transactions.

--recursive-aliases
Causes ledger to try to expand aliases recursively, i.e. try to expand the result of an earlier
expansion again, until no more expansions apply.

--register-format FMT
Define the output format for the register report.

--related (-r)
In a register report show the related account. This is the other side of the transaction.

--related-all
Show all postings in a transaction, similar to --related but show both sides of each
transaction.

--revalued
Report discrepancy in values for manual reports by inserting <Revalued> postings. This is
implied when using the --exchange (-X) or --market (-V) option.

--revalued-only
Show only <Revalued> postings.

--revalued-total
Display the sum of the revalued postings as the running total, which serves to show unrealized
capital in a gain/losses report.

--rich-data
When generating a ledger transaction from a CSV file using the convert command, add CSV,
Imported, and UUID meta-data.

--seed INT
Set the random seed to INT for the generate command. Used as part of development testing.

--script FILE
Execute a ledger script.

--sort EXPR (-S)
Sort the register report based on the value expression EXPR.

--sort-xacts
Sort the posting within transactions using the given value expression.

--start-of-week STR
Use STR as the particular day of the week to start when using the --weekly option. STR can be
day names, their abbreviations like "Mon", or the weekday number starting at 0 for Sunday.

--strict
Accounts, tags or commodities not previously declared will cause warnings.

--subtotal (-s)
Report register as a single subtotal.

--tail INT
Report only the last INT entries. Only useful on a register report. Alias for --last INT

--time-colon
Display the value for commodities based on seconds as hours and minutes. Thus 8100s will be
displayed as 2:15h instead of 2.25h.

--time-report
Add two columns to the balance report to show the earliest checkin and checkout times for
timelog entries.

--total EXPR (-T)
Define a value expression used to calculate the total in reports.

--total-data (-J)
Show only dates and totals to format the output for plots.

--total-width INT
Set the width of the total field in the register report.

--trace INT
Enable tracing. The INT specifies the level of trace desired.

--truncate STR
Indicates how truncation should happen when the contents of columns exceed their width. Valid
arguments for STR are leading, middle, and trailing. The default is smarter than any of these
three, as it considers sub-names within the account name (that style is called "abbreviate").

--unbudgeted
Show only un-budgeted postings.

--uncleared (-U)
Use only uncleared transactions in calculations and reports.

--unrealized
Show generated unrealized gain and loss accounts in the balance report.

--unrealized-gains
Allow the user to specify what account name should be used for unrealized gains. Defaults to
Equity:Unrealized Gains. Often set in one's ~/.ledgerrc file to change the default.

--unrealized-losses
Allow the user to specify what account name should be used for unrealized losses. Defaults to
Equity:Unrealized Losses. Often set in one's ~/.ledgerrc file to change the default.

--unround
Perform all calculations without rounding and display results to full precision.

--values
Show the values used by each tag when used in combination with the tags command.

--value-expr EXPR
Set a global value expression annotation.

--verbose
Print detailed information on the execution of ledger.

--verify
Enable additional assertions during run-time. This causes a significant slowdown. When
combined with --debug CODE ledger will produce memory trace information.

--verify-memory
Verify that every constructed object is properly destructed. This is for debugging purposes
only.

--version
Print version information and exit.

--weekly (-W)
Shorthand for --period weekly.

--wide (-w)
Assume 132 columns instead of the TTY width.

--yearly (-Y)
Shorthand for --period yearly.

PRE-COMMANDS

Pre-commands are useful when you aren't sure how a command or option will work. The difference between a
pre-command and a regular command is that pre-commands ignore the journal data file completely, nor is
the user's init file read.

args / query
Evaluate the given arguments and report how ledger interprets it against the following model
transaction:

2004/05/27 Book Store
; This note applies to all postings. :SecondTag:
Expenses:Books 20 BOOK @ $10
; Metadata: Some Value
; Typed:: $100 + $200
; :ExampleTag:
; Here follows a note describing the posting.
Liabilities:MasterCard $-200.00

eval Evaluate the given value expression against the model transaction.

format Print details of how ledger uses the given formatting description and apply it against a model
transaction.

parse / expr
Print details of how ledger uses the given value expression description and apply it against a
model transaction.

generate
Randomly generates syntactically valid ledger data from a seed. Used by the GenerateTests
harness for development testing.

period Evaluate the given period and report how ledger interprets it.

template
Shows the insertion template that the xact command generates. This is a debugging command.

QUERIES

The syntax for reporting queries can get somewhat complex. It is a series of query terms with an
implicit OR operator between them. The following terms are accepted:

regex A bare string is taken as a regular expression matching the full account name. Thus, to
report the current balance for all assets and liabilities, you would use:

ledger bal asset liab

payee regex (@regex)
Query on the payee, rather than the account.

tag regex (%regex)
Query on tags.

note regex (=regex)
Query on anything found in an item's note.

code regex (#regex)
Query on the xact's optional code (which can be any string the user wishes).

term and term Query terms are joined by an implicit OR operator. You can change this to AND by using
the and keyword. For example, to show food expenditures occurring at Shakee's Pizza, you
could say:

ledger reg food and @Shakee

term or term When you wish to be more explicit, use the OR operator.

show

not term Reverse the logical meaning of the following term. This can be used with parentheses to
great effect:

ledger reg food and @Shakee and not dining

( term ) If you wish to mix OR and AND operators, it is often helpful to surround logical units
with parentheses. NOTE: Because of the way some shells interpret parentheses, you should
always escape them:

ledger bal $ assets or liab $ and not food

EXPRESSIONS

abs(value) Return the absolute value of the given value.

account Return the posting's account.

account_base Return the base account, i.e. everything after the last account delimiter ':'.

actual Return true if the transaction is real, i.e not an automated or virtual transaction,
false otherwise.

amount Return the amount of the posting.

amount_expr Return the calculated amount of the posting according to the --amount option.

ansify_if(value, color, bool)
Render the given value as a string, applying the proper ANSI escape codes to display it
in the given color if bool is true. It typically checks the value of the option
--color, for example:
ansify_if(amount, blue, options.color)

beg_line Line number where entry for posting begins.

beg_pos Character position where entry for posting begins.

ceiling(value) Return the next integer of value toward +infinity.

cleared Return true if the posting was cleared, false otherwise.

code Return the transaction code, the string between the parenthesis after the date.

commodity(value)
Return the commodity of value or the posting amount when value was not specified.

date Return the date of the posting.

end_line Line number where entry for posting ends.

end_pos Character position where entry for posting ends.

floor(value) Return the next integer of value toward -infinity.

filename The name of the ledger data file from whence the posting came.

format(string) Evaluate string as format just like the --format option.

format_date(date, format)
Return the date as a string using format. Refer to strftime(3) for format string
details.

format_datetime(datetime, format)
Return the datetime as a string using format. Refer to strftime(3) for format string
details.

get_at(seq, index)
Return value at index from seq. Used internally to construct different reports.

has_meta(tag) Return true if the posting has metadata named tag, false otherwise.

has_tag(tag) Return true if the posting has metadata named tag, false otherwise.

is_seq(value) Return true if value is a sequence. Used internally.

join(value) Replace all newlines in value with \n.

justify(value, first_width, latter_width, right_justify, colorize)
Right or left justify the string representing value. The width of the field in the
first line is given by first_width. For subsequent lines the width is given by
latter_width. If latter_width is -1, first_width is used for all lines. If
right_justify is true then the field is right justified within the width of the field.
If it is false, then the field is left justified and padded to the full width of the
field. If colorize is true, then ledger will honor color settings.

market(value, datetime)
Return the price of value at datetime. Note that datetime must be surrounded by
brackets in order to be parsed correctly, e.g. [2012/03/23].

meta(name) Return the value of metadata named name.

note Return the note for the posting.

now Return the current datetime.

options A variable that allows access to the values of the given command-line options using the
long option names, e.g. to see whether --daily (-D) was given use option.daily.

payee Return the payee of the posting.

percent(value_a, value_b)
Return the percentage of value_a in relation to value_b (used as 100%).

pending Return true if the posting is marked as pending, false otherwise.

percent(value_a, value_b)
Return the percentage of value_a in relation to value_b.

print(value) Print value to stdout. Used internally for debugging.

quantity(value) Return the quantity of value for values that have a per-unit cost.

quoted(expression)
Surround expression with double-quotes.

quoted_rfc4180(expression)
Surround expression with double-quotes, compatible with rfc 4180.

real Return true if the transaction is real, i.e not an automated or virtual transaction,
false otherwise.

roundto(value, n)
Return value rounded to n digits. Does not affect formatting.

should_bold Return true if expression given to --bold-if evaluates to true. Internal use only!

scrub(value) Clean value using various transformations such as round, stripping value annotations,
and more.

strip(value) Strip value annotation from value.

tag(name) Return the value of tag named name.

to_amount(value)
Convert value to an amount. Internal use only!

to_balance(value)
Convert value to a balance. Internal use only!

to_boolean(value)
Convert value to a boolean. Internal use only!

to_date(value) Convert value to a date. Internal use only!

to_datetime(value)
Convert value to a datetime. Internal use only!

to_int(value) Return the integer value for value.

to_mask(value) Convert value to a mask. Internal use only!

to_sequence(value)
Convert value to a sequence. Internal use only!

to_string(value)
Convert value to a character string.

today Return today's date.

total Return the total of the posting.

total_expr Return the calculated total of the posting according to the --total option.

trim(value) Trim leading and trailing whitespace from value.

truncated(string, total_len, account_len)
Truncate string to total_len ensuring that each account is at least account_len long.

virtual Return true if the transaction is virtual, e.g automated, false otherwise.

DEBUG COMMANDS

In addition to the regular reporting commands, ledger also accepts several debug commands:

args [report-query]
Display complete analysis of how ledger interpreted the given report-query. Useful if you want
to understand how report queries are translated into value expressions.

eval [value-expression]
Evaluate the given value-expression and prints the result. For more on value expressions, see
the section “EXPRESSIONS”.

format [format-string]
Display an analysis of how format-string was parsed, and what it would look like applied to a
sample transaction. For more on format strings, see the section “FORMATS”.

generate
Generate 50 randomly composed yet valid ledger transactions.

parse [value-expression]
Parse the given value-expression and display an analysis of the expression tree and its
evaluated value. For more on value expressions, see the section “EXPRESSIONS”.

python [file]
Invoke a Python interpreter to read the given file. What is special about this is that the
ledger module is builtin, not read from disk, so it doesn't require ledger to be installed
anywhere, or the shared library variants to be built.

reload Reload all data files for the current session immediately. Can only be used in the REPL.

template [draft-template]
Display information about how draft-template was parsed. See the section on “DRAFTS”.

ENVIRONMENT

       Every  option  to  ledger  may  be  set using an environment variable if the option has a long name.  For
       example setting the environment variable LEDGER_DATE_FORMAT="%d.%m.%Y'  will  have  the  same  effect  as
       specifying  --date-format  '%d.%m.%Y'  on  the  command-line.   Options  on  the command-line always take
       precedence over environment variable settings, however.

FILES

       ~/.ledgerrc
                Your personal ledger initializations.

AUTHORS

       John Wiegley ⟨johnw@newartisans.com⟩

Debian                                           March 15, 2019                                        LEDGER(1)