dex init

The init command initializes a new database using descriptions of accounts in a CSV or Journal file.

Usage

$ dex init --help
usage: dex init [-h] [--force] F

positional arguments:
  F           name of file with account definitions

options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

The command has one argument, the name of the account file. The format of the file will be inferred from the filename extension, either .csv or .journal.

See Defining Accounts for details on how to define account attributes in each file format.

Database Name

Dexter looks for the name to use for the new database in the following locations, in order:

• the value of the --db command line option
• the value of an environment variable named DEX_DB
• the name defined in the configuration file

If no name is found Dexter prints an error message and exits.

If there is already a database with that name Dexter prints a warning and exits. Use --force if you want Dexter to erase the old database and replace it with the new one.

Example

To create a new database named test using the account definitions in my_accounts.csv:

$ dex --db test my_accounts.csv