unclear error messages when config file contains a bad command argument

[muralikodali]

i have directly downloaded the hledger binary from github with version 1.50.2

when binary is run on my arch linux , it is giving the following error before exiting :

Error: command  is not recognized. Run with no command to see a list.

my previous hledger version before upgrade, i.e 1.32.3 is running without any such error.

[simonmichael]

Can you check/show the output of hledger setup ?

[muralikodali]

following is the output of hledger setup

Checking your hledger setup.. Legend: good, neutral, unknown, warning

hledger

• is a released version ? yes hledger 1.50.2, linux-x86_64
• is up to date ? yes 1.50.2 installed, latest is 1.50.2
• is a native binary for this machine ? yes x86_64
• is installed in PATH (this version) ? yes ./hledger
• has a system text encoding configured ? yes UTF-8, data files must use this encoding
• has a user config file ? yes /home/xxxx/.config/hledger/hledger.conf
• has a local config file ? no
• the config file is readable ? yes

terminal

• the NO_COLOR variable is defined ? no
• --color is configured by config file ? no
• hledger will use color by default ? yes
• the PAGER variable is defined ? yes /home/xxxx/.local/bin/moar2
• --pager is configured by config file ? no
• hledger will use a pager when needed ? yes /home/xxxx/.local/bin/moar2
• tables will use box-drawing chars ? yes

journal

• the LEDGER_FILE variable is defined ? yes /home/xxxx/AccountCli/ledgercli/data/2025/cash.ledger
• a default journal file is readable ? yes /home/xxxx/AccountCli/ledgercli/data/2025/cash.ledger
• it includes additional files ? yes 35 files
• all commodities are declared ? yes 1 commodities
• all accounts are declared ? yes 162 accounts
• all accounts have types ? yes
• all account types are detected ? no V not found; bs/cf/is reports may not work
• commodities/accounts are being checked ? no you can use -s to check them
• balance assertions are being checked ? no you can use -s to check them

[simonmichael]

It sounds like a problem in your config file .config/hledger/hledger.conf. See if running with -n fixes it, and share the config file if you'd like (or let us know what problem you found there).

[simonmichael]

I can reproduce like this: add an unrecognized command argument in the general section of a config file:

# .hledger.conf
foo

Then run hledger with no arguments:

$ hledger
hledger: Error: command  is not recognized. Run with no command to see a list.

Problem: it should mention "foo" as the command name.

Also if you add a valid command on the command line:

$ hledger bal
hledger: Error: command bal is not recognized. Run with no command to see a list.

Problem: this message is misleading, obscuring the problem.

Workaround: fix or remove your config file.

Thanks for reporting.