Command Line Options

There are two types of command line options: those that are common to all commands, and options that are specific to each command.

Following a common Unix convention, option names can be abbreviated as long as they are distinct from other options. For example, the select command has options named debit and date. If you want to specify a value for debit you can use --debit or --deb or even --de, but not just --d because both "debit" and "date" start with "d".

Common Options

The first part of the main help message shows the names of the common options:

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --dbname X            database name
  --log X
  --preview
  --config F            TOML file with configuration settings

Note: Common options must be typed before a subcommand name.

dbname

The name of the database to use. If no name is given, Dexter will look for an environment variable named DEX_DB.

Example: initialize a new database named foo:

$ dex --db foo init ...

log

This option controls the amount of information printed on the terminal.

Alternatives are quiet (don't print anything), info (the default), and debug (which prints a ton of stuff, intended for developers who are tracking down problems).

Example: initialize a new database but dont' print status messages.

$ dex --db foo --log quiet init ...

preview

If this option is specified Dexter will print descriptions of data it will use but won't actually carry out the operation.

As an example of how to use it, suppose you have downloaded a CSV file and saved it in Downloads/checking.csv and now you want to import it. If you want to see a list of the Postings that Dexter extracts from the file include the -preview option:

$ dex --preview import Downloads/checking.csv 

To save the records in the database run the command again without --preview.

config

Dexter uses a configuration file to specify many different runtime options. By default it looks for a file named dex.toml in the current directory or a file name specified with the DEX_CONFIG enfironment variable.

Use the config option to specify an alternative file.

Subcommand Options

If a subcommand has options they are specified after the command name.

For example, the select command has options to speficy attributes of transactions to search for. These include the start and end dates, descriptions, amounts, and so on. This command searches the database named dev to find car expenses (transactions that debit the car account) with dates before Jan 31 2025:

$ dex --db dev select --end 2025-01-31 --debit car

Important: Notice how the --db option, which is common to all dex subcommands, comes before the command name, while the --end and --debit options for select are after the command name.

Date Range Options

Several subcommands have --start_date, --end_date, and --month options.

For --start_date and --end_date you can specify dates with a variety of formats. If the format includes spaces or slashes make sure you put quotes around the date. All of these are ways of specifying an end date of Jan 31, 2025:

--end_date 2025-01-31
--end_date 'Jan 31, 2025'
--end_date '1/31/2025'
--end_date '1/31'

(for the last example, the year is inferred from the current date).

If the day number is 12 or less a date is ambiguous. Is 1/7 Jan 7 or Jul 1? For dates with slashes Dexter uses the American convention that the month number precedes the day number.

The --month option is a shorthand for specifying both a starting and ending date. The argument should be a 3-letter month abbreviation, from jan, feb, etc up to dec. Dexter will convert the month name into a pair of dates within the last year.

Suppose today's date is May 5, 2025.

• If you specify --mon apr the start date will be Apr 1, 2025 and the end date Apr 30, 2025.
• If you specify --mon sep you will get a starting date of Sep 1, 2024 and an ending date of Sep 30, 2024.