Dogcows Code - chaz/homebank2ledger/blob - README.md

   1 # NAME
   2
   3 homebank2ledger - A tool to convert HomeBank files to Ledger format
   4
   5 # VERSION
   6
   7 version 0.004
   8
   9 # SYNOPSIS
  10
  11     homebank2ledger --input FILEPATH [--output FILEPATH] [--format FORMAT]
  12                     [--version|--help|--manual] [--account-width NUM]
  13                     [--accounts|--no-accounts] [--payees|--no-payees]
  14                     [--tags|--no-tags] [--commodities|--no-commodities]
  15                     [--opening-date DATE]
  16                     [--rename-account STR]... [--exclude-account STR]...
  17
  18 # DESCRIPTION
  19
  20 `homebank2ledger` converts [HomeBank](http://homebank.free.fr/) files to a format usable by
  21 [Ledger](https://www.ledger-cli.org/). It can also convert directly to the similar
  22 [Beancount](http://furius.ca/beancount/) format.
  23
  24 This software is **EXPERIMENTAL**, in early development. Its interface may change without notice.
  25
  26 I wrote `homebank2ledger` because I have been maintaining my own personal finances using HomeBank
  27 (which is awesome) and I wanted to investigate using plain text accounting programs. It works well
  28 enough for my data, but you may be using HomeBank features that I don't so there may be cases this
  29 doesn't handle well or at all. Feel free to file a bug report. This script does NOT try to modify
  30 the original HomeBank files it converts from, so there won't be any crazy data loss bugs... but no
  31 warranty.
  32
  33 ## Features
  34
  35 - Converts HomeBank accounts and categories into a typical set of double-entry accounts.
  36 - Retains HomeBank metadata, including payees and tags.
  37 - Offers some customization of the output ledger, like account renaming.
  38
  39 This program is feature-complete in my opinion (well, almost -- see ["CAVEATS"](#caveats)), but if there is
  40 anything you think it could do to be even better, feedback is welcome; just file a bug report. Or
  41 fork the code and have fun!
  42
  43 ## Use cases
  44
  45 You can migrate the data you have in HomeBank so you can start maintaining your accounts in Ledger
  46 (or Beancount).
  47
  48 Or if you don't plan to switch completely off of HomeBank, you can continue to maintain your
  49 accounts in HomeBank and use this script to also take advantage of the reports Ledger offers.
  50
  51 # OPTIONS
  52
  53 ## --version
  54
  55 Print the version and exit.
  56
  57 Alias: `-V`
  58
  59 ## --help
  60
  61 Print help/usage info and exit.
  62
  63 Alias: `-h`, `-?`
  64
  65 ## --manual
  66
  67 Print the full manual and exit.
  68
  69 Alias: `--man`
  70
  71 ## --input FILEPATH
  72
  73 Specify the path to the HomeBank file to read (must already exist).
  74
  75 Alias: `--file`, `-i`
  76
  77 ## --output FILEPATH
  78
  79 Specify the path to the Ledger file to write (may not exist yet). If not provided, the formatted
  80 ledger will be printed on `STDOUT`.
  81
  82 Alias: `-o`
  83
  84 ## --format STR
  85
  86 Specify the output file format. If provided, must be one of:
  87
  88 - ledger
  89 - beancount
  90
  91 ## --account-width NUM
  92
  93 Specify the number of characters to reserve for the account column in transactions. Adjusting this
  94 can provide prettier formatting of the output.
  95
  96 Defaults to 40.
  97
  98 ## --accounts
  99
 100 Enables account declarations.
 101
 102 Defaults to enabled; use `--no-accounts` to disable.
 103
 104 ## --payees
 105
 106 Enables payee declarations.
 107
 108 Defaults to enabled; use `--no-payees` to disable.
 109
 110 ## --tags
 111
 112 Enables tag declarations.
 113
 114 Defaults to enabled; use `--no-tags` to disable.
 115
 116 ## --commodities
 117
 118 Enables commodity declarations.
 119
 120 Defaults to enabled; use `--no-commodities` to disable.
 121
 122 ## --opening-date DATE
 123
 124 Specify the opening date for the "opening balances" transaction. This transaction is created (if
 125 needed) to support HomeBank's ability to configure accounts with opening balances.
 126
 127 Date must be in the form "YYYY-MM-DD". Defaults to the date of the first transaction.
 128
 129 ## --rename-account STR
 130
 131 Specifies a mapping for renaming accounts in the output. By default `homebank2ledger` tries to come
 132 up with sensible account names (based on your HomeBank accounts and categories) that fit into five
 133 root accounts:
 134
 135 - Assets
 136 - Liabilities
 137 - Equity
 138 - Income
 139 - Expenses
 140
 141 The value of the argument must be of the form "REGEXP=REPLACEMENT". See ["EXAMPLES"](#examples).
 142
 143 Can be repeated to rename multiple accounts.
 144
 145 ## --exclude-account STR
 146
 147 Specifies an account that will not be included in the output. All transactions related to this
 148 account will be skipped.
 149
 150 Can be repeated to exclude multiple accounts.
 151
 152 # EXAMPLES
 153
 154 ## Basic usage
 155
 156     # Convert homebank.xhb to a Ledger-compatible file:
 157     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb -o ledger.dat
 158
 159     # Run the Ledger balance report:
 160     ledger -f ledger.dat balance
 161
 162 You can also combine this into one command:
 163
 164     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb | ledger -f - balance
 165
 166 ## Account renaming
 167
 168 With the ["--rename-account STR"](#rename-account-str) argument, you have some control over the resulting account
 169 structure. This may be useful in cases where the organization imposed (or encouraged) by HomeBank
 170 doesn't necessarily line up with an ideal double-entry structure.
 171
 172     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb -o ledger.dat \
 173         --rename-account '^Assets:Credit Union Savings$=Assets:Bank:Credit Union:Savings' \
 174         --rename-account '^Assets:Credit Union Checking$=Assets:Bank:Credit Union:Checking'
 175
 176 Multiple accounts can be renamed at the same time because the first part of the mapping is a regular
 177 expression. The above example could be written like this:
 178
 179     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb -o ledger.dat \
 180         --rename-account '^Assets:Credit Union =Assets:Bank:Credit Union:'
 181
 182 You can also merge accounts by simple renaming multiple accounts to the same name:
 183
 184     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb -o ledger.dat \
 185         --rename-account '^Liabilities:Chase VISA$=Liabilities:All Credit Cards' \
 186         --rename-account '^Liabilities:Amex$=Liabilities:All Credit Cards'
 187
 188 If you need to do anything more complicated, of course you can edit the output after converting;
 189 it's just plain text.
 190
 191 ## Beancount
 192
 193     # Convert homebank.xhb to a Beancount-compatible file:
 194     homebank2ledger path/to/homebank.xhb -f beancount -o ledger.beancount
 195
 196     # Run the balances report:
 197     bean-report ledger.beancount balances
 198
 199 # CAVEATS
 200
 201 - I didn't intend to make this a releasable robust product, so it's lacking tests.
 202 - Budgets and scheduled transactions are not (yet) converted.
 203 - There are some minor formatting tweaks I will make (e.g. consolidate transaction tags and payees)
 204
 205 # BUGS
 206
 207 Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website
 208 [https://github.com/chazmcgarvey/homebank2ledger/issues](https://github.com/chazmcgarvey/homebank2ledger/issues)
 209
 210 When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a
 211 patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired
 212 feature.
 213
 214 # AUTHOR
 215
 216 Charles McGarvey <chazmcgarvey@brokenzipper.com>
 217
 218 # COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
 219
 220 This software is Copyright (c) 2019 by Charles McGarvey.
 221
 222 This is free software, licensed under:
 223
 224     The MIT (X11) License