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https://github.com/beancount/beancount-mode

Emacs major-mode to work with Beancount ledger files
https://github.com/beancount/beancount-mode

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Emacs major-mode to work with Beancount ledger files

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#+TITLE: Emacs major-mode to work with Beancount ledger files



This package provides =beancount-mode= an Emacs [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Major-Modes.html][major-mode]]

implementing syntax highlighting, indentation, completion , and other

facilities to edit and work with Beancount ledger files.



To instruct Emacs to activate =beancount-mode= when opening files with

a ~.beancount~ extension, you can add this code to your Emacs

configuration, typically in the =~/.emacs.d/init.el= file:



#+begin_src elisp

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/beancount-mode/")

(require 'beancount)

(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.beancount\\'" . beancount-mode))

#+end_src



Most facilities commonly provided by Emacs major modes are implemented

by =beancount-mode=. Documentation on the provided functionality and on

the default keybindings can be obtained with the =describe-mode= command

in a buffer with =beancount-mode= active.



In a nutshell, when =beancount-mode= is active:



- The "TAB" key either indents, completes, or folds the heading at

  point, depending on the context.



- Amounts in postings are indented so that the decimal point is at the

  =beancount-number-alignment-column= column. Setting this variable to

  0 will cause the alignment column to be determined from file

  content.



- Postings in transactions, as well as metadata, links, and tags

  following directives, and are indented with

  =beancount-transaction-indent= spaces.



- Pressing the "RET" key causes the current line to be automatically

  indented. If the current line is a posting, the amount will be

  indented as described above.



The automatic indentation behavior is defined by Emacs auto indent

mechanism, however, it can be surprising or undesired. It can be

disabled setting =electric-indent-chars= to =nil= after loading

=beancount-mode=, for example like this:



#+begin_src elisp

(add-hook 'beancount-mode-hook

  (lambda () (setq-local electric-indent-chars nil)))

#+end_src



Beancount ledger files can grow very large. It is thus often practical

to structure them in sections and subsections. To support this,

=beancount-mode= leverages [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Outline-Mode.html][Outline minor-mode]] to enable navigation of

the document structure to fold and unfold the document sections,

similarly to what is possible in [[https://orgmode.org/][Org mode]]. Lines starting with one

asterisks "=*=" or three or more semicolons "=;;;=" are interpreted as

section headings. In Beancount, the semicolon starts a comment and all

lines starting with an asterisks are ignored. The number of semicolons

or asterisks determines the heading level.



To enable this functionality, =outline-minor-mode= should be

explicitly activated. It is possible to do so automatically when

=beancout-mode= is activated:



#+begin_src elisp

(add-hook 'beancount-mode-hook #'outline-minor-mode)

#+end_src



Outline minor mode uses a rather peculiar choice of keybindings. It is

possible to map the most used functionality to keys more familiar to

=org-mode= users adding a few lines to the Emacs configuration:



#+begin_src elisp

(define-key beancount-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-n") #'outline-next-visible-heading)

(define-key beancount-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-p") #'outline-previous-visible-heading)

#+end_src



Alternatively the keybindings for =outline-minor-mode= can be globally

remapped. Please refer to the =outline-minor-mode= documentation in

the Emacs manual for more details.



You can enable on-the-fly checks on your ledger file using =bean-check= via

flymake:



#+begin_src elisp

  (add-hook 'beancount-mode-hook #'flymake-bean-check-enable)

#+end_src



The =etc/emacsrc= file contains some example configuration for

=beancount-mode= and some experiments that may find their way into the

main codebase.



* Keybinding compatibility



In mid-2023 the default keybindings for many commands in

=beancount-mode= were changed to become compliant with the [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Key-Binding-Conventions.html][Emacs

keybinding conventions]].  However, if you are accustomed to the old

keybindings and would prefer to continue using them, just put this

into your Emacs configuration before =beancount.el= is loaded:



#+begin_src elisp

(setq beancount-mode-old-style-keybindings t)

#+end_src