hledger roi --inv "^assets:investments" --pnl "" errors

[japhir]

The docs for roi (man hledger > search for roi) mention:

--pnl could be an empty query (--pnl "" or --pnl STR where STR does not match any of your accounts).

However, when I run the command with an empty pnl, I get an error. If I specify, e.g. "^$" instead, it does work.

I think that if the user doesn't specify any --pnl flag, the command should still work and just not match any accounts.

To reproduce, save the below to /tmp/roi.journal

commodity €1,000.00
commodity 1000.0 TICK

2025-08-14 IBKR | TICK
    assets:broker:investing:TICK                      48 TICK @ €10.454
    assets:broker:checking                                     €-503.08
    expenses:banking:broker:investing:transferfees                €1.29
    equity:rounding                                                €-0.002

2025-09-16 IBKR | TICK
    assets:broker:investing:TICK                      46.8918 TICK @ €10.662831
    assets:broker:checking                                             €-501.25
    expenses:banking:broker:investing:transferfees                        €1.25
    equity:rounding                                                  €0.0006613142

2025-10-06 IBKR | TICK
    assets:broker:investing:TICK                      45.5987 TICK @ €10.965201
    assets:broker:checking                                             €-501.25
    expenses:banking:broker:investing:transferfees                        €1.25
    equity:rounding                                                  €0.0010891613

2025-10-23 IBKR | TICK
    assets:broker:investing:TICK                      16.3 TICK @ €11.004
    assets:broker:checking                                       €-180.63
    expenses:banking:broker:investing:transferfees                  €1.27
    equity:rounding                                                 €-0.0052

P 2025-08-14 00:00:00 TICK €10.4540004730224609375
P 2025-08-15 00:00:00 TICK €10.4340000152587890625
P 2025-08-18 00:00:00 TICK €10.4540004730224609375
P 2025-08-19 00:00:00 TICK €10.451999664306640625
P 2025-08-20 00:00:00 TICK €10.39400005340576171875
P 2025-08-21 00:00:00 TICK €10.4340000152587890625
P 2025-08-22 00:00:00 TICK €10.49400043487548828125
P 2025-08-25 00:00:00 TICK €10.50800037384033203125
P 2025-08-26 00:00:00 TICK €10.47000026702880859375
P 2025-08-27 00:00:00 TICK €10.54399967193603515625
P 2025-08-28 00:00:00 TICK €10.52600002288818359375
P 2025-08-29 00:00:00 TICK €10.4340000152587890625
P 2025-09-01 00:00:00 TICK €10.4619998931884765625
P 2025-09-02 00:00:00 TICK €10.34799957275390625
P 2025-09-03 00:00:00 TICK €10.423999786376953125
P 2025-09-04 00:00:00 TICK €10.4899997711181640625
P 2025-09-05 00:00:00 TICK €10.44600009918212890625
P 2025-09-08 00:00:00 TICK €10.50599956512451171875
P 2025-09-09 00:00:00 TICK €10.5179996490478515625
P 2025-09-10 00:00:00 TICK €10.59799957275390625
P 2025-09-11 00:00:00 TICK €10.65200042724609375
P 2025-09-12 00:00:00 TICK €10.65799999237060546875
P 2025-09-15 00:00:00 TICK €10.67599964141845703125
P 2025-09-16 00:00:00 TICK €10.60200023651123046875
P 2025-09-17 00:00:00 TICK €10.59200000762939453125
P 2025-09-18 00:00:00 TICK €10.69200038909912109375
P 2025-09-19 00:00:00 TICK €10.7779998779296875
P 2025-09-22 00:00:00 TICK €10.7320003509521484375
P 2025-09-23 00:00:00 TICK €10.7600002288818359375
P 2025-09-24 00:00:00 TICK €10.72799968719482421875
P 2025-09-25 00:00:00 TICK €10.73400020599365234375
P 2025-09-26 00:00:00 TICK €10.71399974822998046875
P 2025-09-29 00:00:00 TICK €10.7600002288818359375
P 2025-09-30 00:00:00 TICK €10.73400020599365234375
P 2025-10-01 00:00:00 TICK €10.840000152587890625
P 2025-10-02 00:00:00 TICK €10.881999969482421875
P 2025-10-03 00:00:00 TICK €10.923999786376953125
P 2025-10-06 00:00:00 TICK €10.9759998321533203125
P 2025-10-07 00:00:00 TICK €10.94999980926513671875
P 2025-10-08 00:00:00 TICK €11.04199981689453125
P 2025-10-09 00:00:00 TICK €11.05799961090087890625
P 2025-10-10 00:00:00 TICK €10.83800029754638671875
P 2025-10-13 00:00:00 TICK €10.91800022125244140625
P 2025-10-14 00:00:00 TICK €10.8859996795654296875
P 2025-10-15 00:00:00 TICK €10.93000030517578125
P 2025-10-16 00:00:00 TICK €10.9540004730224609375
P 2025-10-17 00:00:00 TICK €10.80799961090087890625
P 2025-10-20 00:00:00 TICK €10.98400020599365234375
P 2025-10-21 00:00:00 TICK €11.04199981689453125
P 2025-10-22 00:00:00 TICK €10.94999980926513671875
P 2025-10-23 00:00:00 TICK €11.034000396728515625

then run:

hledger roi --file="/tmp/roi.journal" --value="then,€" --inv "^assets:.*:TICK$" --pnl ""  

which results in

hledger: Error: Error (NotBracketed): No solution for Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
  Possible causes: IRR is huge (>1000000%), balance of investment becomes negative at some point in time.

whereas if we specify it with "^$" we do get expected output.

hledger roi --file="/tmp/roi.journal" --value="then,€" --inv "^assets:.*:TICK$" --pnl "^$"
+---++------------+------------++---------------+-----------+-------------+--------++--------++------------+----------+
|   ||      Begin |        End || Value (begin) |  Cashflow | Value (end) |    PnL ||    IRR || TWR/period | TWR/year |
+===++============+============++===============+===========+=============+========++========++============+==========+
| 1 || 2025-08-14 | 2025-10-23 ||             0 | €1,681.16 |   €1,730.03 | €48.87 || 31.52% ||      4.98% |   28.36% |
+---++------------+------------++---------------+-----------+-------------+--------++--------++------------+----------+

[simonmichael]

Thanks for the testing and report. I've marked it as a minor UX bug, because of exposing the internal name (NotBracketed), being not especially actionable, and the Error: Error typo.