Provided by: visidata_1.0-1_all 
NAME
VisiData — a terminal utility for exploring and arranging tabular data
SYNOPSIS
vd [options] [input ...]
vd [options] --play cmdlog [-w waitsecs] [--batch] [-o output] [field=value ...]
DESCRIPTION
VisiData is a multipurpose tool for exploring, cleaning, editing, and restructuring data.
Rows can be selected, filtered, and grouped; columns can be rearranged, transformed, and
derived via regex or Python expressions; workflows can be saved, documented, and replayed.
VisiData is built on the vdtui platform.
REPLAY MODE
-p, --play=cmdlog replays a saved cmdlog within the interface
-w, --replay-wait=seconds
waits seconds between commands
-b, --batch replays in batch mode (with no interface)
-o, --output=file saves final visible sheet to file as .tsv
--replay-movement=bool toggles --play to move cursor cell-by-cell
field=value replaces "{field}" in cmdlog contents with value
Commands During Replay
^U pauses/resumes replay
Tab executes next row in replaying sheet
^K cancels current replay
GLOBAL COMMANDS
In most cases, commands that affect 'selected rows' will affect all rows if no rows are
selected.
Keystrokes For The Cautious
F1 z? views this man page
gF1 gz? views all commands available on current sheet
^Q aborts program immediately
^C cancels user input or aborts all async threads on current sheet
q quits current sheet
gq quits all sheets (clean exit)
Cursor Movement
Arrow PgUp Home moves as expected
h j k l moves left/down/up/right
gh gj gk gl moves all the way to the left/bottom/top/right
G gg moves all the way to the bottom/top
^B ^F scrolls one page back/forward
/ ? regex searches for regex forward/backward in current column
g/ g? regex searches for regex forward/backward over all visible columns
n N moves to next/previous match from last search
< > moves up/down the current column to the next value
{ } moves up/down the current column to the next selected row
c regex moves to the next column with name matching regex
r regex moves to the next row with key matching regex
zc zr number moves to given column/row number
H J K L slides current row/column left/down/up/right
gH gJ gK gL slides current row/column all the way to the left/bottom/top/right of sheet
zh zj zk zl scrolls one left/down/up/right
zt zz zb scrolls current row to top/center/bottom of screen
Column Manipulation
_ (underscore) adjusts width of current column
g_ adjusts width of all visible columns
z_ number adjusts width of current column to number
- (hyphen) hides current column (to unhide, go to Columns sheet and edit its width)
z- reduces width of current column by half
! pins current column on the left as a key column
~ # % $ @ sets type of current column to untyped/int/float/currency/date
^ edits name of current column
g^ sets names of all unnamed visible columns to contents of selected rows (or
current row)
z^ sets name of current column to contents of current cell
gz^ sets name of current column to combined contents of current column for
selected rows (or current row)
= expr creates new column from Python expr, with column names as variables
g= expr sets current column for selected rows to result of Python expr
gz= expr sets current column for selected rows to the items in result of Python
sequence expr
z= expr sets current cell to result of evaluated Python expr on current row
' (tick) adds a frozen copy of current column with all cells evaluated
g' opens a frozen copy of current sheet with all visible columns evaluated
z' gz' adds/resets cache for current/all visible column(s)
: regex adds new columns from regex split; number of columns determined by example
row at cursor
; regex adds new columns from capture groups of regex; also requires example row
* regex/subst replaces regex with subst, which may include backreferences (\1 etc)
Row Selection
s t u selects/toggles/unselects current row
gs gt gu selects/toggles/unselects all rows
| \ regex selects/unselects rows matching regex in current column
g| g\ regex selects/unselects rows matching regex in any visible column
, (comma) selects rows matching current cell in current column
g, selects rows matching this row in all visible columns
Row Sorting/Filtering
[ ] sorts ascending/descending by current column
g[ g] sorts ascending/descending by all key columns
" opens duplicate sheet with only selected rows
g" opens duplicate sheet with all rows
gz" opens duplicate sheet with deepcopy of selected rows
Editing Rows and Cells
a appends a blank row
ga number appends number blank rows
d gd deletes current/all selected row(s) and moves to clipboard
y gy yanks (copies) current/all selected row(s) to clipboard
zy yanks (copies) current cell to clipboard
p P pastes clipboard rows after/before current row
zp gzp sets contents of current column for current/all selected row(s) to last
clipboard value
f fills null cells in current column with contents of non-null cells up the
current column
e text edits contents of current cell
ge text sets contents of current column for selected rows to text
zd Del sets contents of current cell to None
gzd gDel sets contents of cells in current column to None for selected rows
Commands While Editing Input
Enter ^C accepts/aborts input
^O opens external $EDITOR to edit contents
^R reloads initial value
^A ^E moves to beginning/end of line
^B ^F moves back/forward one character
^H ^D deletes previous/current character
^T transposes previous and current characters
^U ^K clears from cursor to beginning/end of line
Backspace Del deletes previous/current character
Insert toggles insert mode
Up Down sets contents to previous/next in history
Tab Shift-Tab autocompletes input (when available)
Data Toolkit
o input opens input in VisiData
^S filename saves current sheet to filename in format determined by extension (default
.tsv)
^D filename.vd saves CommandLog to filename.vd file
A number opens new blank sheet with number columns
R number opens duplicate sheet with a random population subset of number rows
+ aggregator adds aggregator to current column (see Frequency Table)
z+ aggregator displays result of aggregator over values in selected rows for current
column
Data Visualization
. (dot) plots current numeric column vs key columns. Numeric key column is used for
the x-axis; categorical key column values determine color.
g. plots a graph of all visible numeric columns vs key columns.
If rows on the current sheet represent plottable coordinates (as in .shp or vector .mbtiles
sources), . plots the current row, and g. plots all selected rows (or all rows if none
selected).
Canvas-specific Commands
+ - increases/decreases zoomlevel, centered on cursor
_ (underscore) zooms to fit full extent
s t u selects/toggles/unselects rows on source sheet contained within
canvas cursor
gs gt gu selects/toggles/unselects rows visible on screen
Enter opens sheet of source rows contained within canvas cursor
gEnter opens sheet of source rows visible on screen
1 - 9 toggles display of layers
^L redraws all pixels on canvas
w toggles show_graph_labels option
mouse scrollwheel zooms in/out of canvas
left click-drag sets canvas cursor
right click-drag scrolls canvas
Other Commands
V views contents of current cell in a new TextSheet
v toggles visibility (text wrap on TextSheet, legends/axes on Graph)
^^ (Ctrl-^) jumps to previous sheet (swaps with current sheet)
^E views traceback for most recent error
g^E views traceback for most recent errors
z^E views traceback for error in current cell
^L refreshes screen
^G shows cursor position and bounds of current sheet on status line
^V shows version information on status line
^R reloads current sheet
z^R clears cache for current column
^Z suspends VisiData process
^P opens Status History
^Y z^Y g^Y opens current row/cell/sheet as Python object
^X expr evaluates Python expr and opens result as python object
z^X expr evaluates Python expr on current row and shows result on status line
g^X stmt executes Python stmt in the global scope
Internal Sheets List
Metasheets
. Columns Sheet (Shift-C) edit column properties
. Sheets Sheet (Shift-S) jump between sheets or join them together
. Options Sheet (Shift-O) edit all configurable options
. Commandlog (Shift-D) modify and save commands for replay
. Error Sheet (^E) view last error
. Status History (^P) view history of status messages
. Threads Sheet (^T) view, cancel, and profile asynchronous threads
Derived Sheets
. Frequency Table (Shift-F) group rows by column value, with aggregations of other
columns
. Describe Sheet (Shift-I) view summary statistics for each column
. Pivot Table (Shift-W) group rows by key and summarize current column
. Melted Sheet (Shift-M) unpivot non-key columns into variable/value columns
METASHEETS
Columns Sheet (Shift-C)
Properties of columns on the source sheet can be changed with standard editing commands (e
ge g= Del) on the Columns Sheet. Multiple aggregators can be set by listing them (separated
by spaces) in the aggregators column. The 'g' commands affect the selected rows, which are
actually the literal columns on the source sheet.
(global commands)
gC opens Columns Sheet with all columns from all sheets
(sheet-specific commands)
& adds column from concatenating selected source columns
! pins current column on the left as a key column on source sheet
g! pins selected columns on the left as key columns on source sheet
g+ adds aggregator to selected source columns
g_ (underscore) adjusts widths of selected columns on source sheet
g- (hyphen) hides selected columns on source sheet
~ # % $ @ sets type of current column on source sheet to
str/int/float/currency/date
g~ g# g% g$ g@ sets type of selected columns on source sheet to
str/int/float/currency/date
z~ gz~ sets type of current/selected column(s) on source sheet to anytype
Enter opens a Frequency Table sheet grouped on column referenced in current
row
Sheets Sheet (Shift-S)
(sheet-specific commands)
Enter jumps to sheet referenced in current row
gC opens Columns Sheet with all columns from selected sheets
& jointype merges selected sheets with visible columns from all, keeping rows
according to jointype:
. inner keeps only rows which match keys on all sheets
. left keeps all rows from first selected sheet
. full keeps all rows from all sheets (union)
. diff keeps only rows NOT in all sheets
. append keeps all rows from all sheets (concatenation)
Options Sheet (Shift-O)
(sheet-specific commands)
Enter edits option
CommandLog (Shift-D)
(sheet-specific commands)
x replays command in current row
gx replays contents of entire CommandLog
^C aborts replay
DERIVED SHEETS
Frequency Table (Shift-F)
A Frequency Table groups rows by one or more columns, and includes summary columns for those
with aggregators.
(global commands)
gF opens Frequency Table, grouped by all key columns on source sheet
zF opens one-line summary for selected rows
(sheet-specific commands)
s t u selects/toggles/unselects these entries in source sheet
Enter opens sheet of source rows which are grouped in current cell
Describe Sheet (Shift-I)
(sheet-specific commands)
zs zu selects/unselects rows on source sheet which are being described in
current cell
! pins current column on the left as a key column on source sheet
Enter opens a Frequency Table sheet grouped on column referenced in current
row
zEnter opens copy of source sheet with rows described in current cell
Pivot Table (Shift-W)
Set key column(s) and aggregators on column(s) before pressing Shift-W on the column to
pivot.
(sheet-specific commands)
Enter opens sheet of source rows aggregated in current pivot row
zEnter opens sheet of source rows aggregated in current pivot cell
Melted Sheet (Shift-M)
Opens melted sheet (unpivot), with all non-key columns reduced to Variable-Value rows.
Python Object Sheet (^X ^Y g^Y z^Y)
(sheet-specific commands)
Enter dives further into Python object
e edits contents of current cell
v toggles whether methods and hidden properties are shown
COMMANDLINE OPTIONS
-f, --filetype=filetype tsv uses loader for filetype instead of file
extension
-y, --confirm-overwrite=F True overwrites existing files without
confirmation
--diff=base None adds colorizer for all sheets against base
--encoding=str utf-8 as passed to codecs.open
--encoding-errors=str surrogateescape as passed to codecs.open
--regex-flags=str I flags to pass to re.compile() [AILMSUX]
--default-width=int 20 default column width
--wrap=bool False wrap text to fit window width on TextSheet
--cmd-after-edit=str j command keystroke to execute after
successful edit
--cmdlog-longname=bool False Use command longname in cmdlog if available
--none-is-null=bool True if Python None counts as null
--empty-is-null=bool False if empty string counts as null
--false-is-null=bool False if Python False counts as null
--zero-is-null=bool False if integer 0 counts as null
--force-valid-colnames=bool False clean column names to be valid Python
identifiers
--debug=bool False exit on error and display stacktrace
--curses-timeout=int 100 curses timeout in ms
--force-256-colors=bool False use 256 colors even if curses reports fewer
--use-default-colors=bool False set curses to use default terminal colors
--note-pending=str ⌛ note to display for pending cells
--note-format-exc=str ? cell note for an exception during type
conversion or formatting
--note-getter-exc=str ! cell note for an exception during
computation
--scroll-incr=int 3 amount to scroll with scrollwheel
--skip=int 0 skip first N lines of text input
--profile-threads=bool True profile async threads
--min-memory-mb=int 0 minimum memory to continue loading and async
processing
--confirm-overwrite=bool True whether to prompt for overwrite confirmation
on save
--header=int 1 parse first N rows of .csv/.tsv as column
names
--delimiter=str delimiter to use for tsv filetype
--filetype=str specify file type
--pyobj-show-hidden=bool False show methods and _private properties
--replay-wait=float 0.0 time to wait between replayed commands, in
seconds
--replay-movement=bool False insert movements during replay
--rowkey-prefix=str キ string prefix for rowkey in the cmdlog
--regex-maxsplit=int 0 maxsplit to pass to regex.split
--show-graph-labels=bool True show axes and legend on graph
--plot-colors=str list of distinct colors to use for plotting
distinct objects
--zoom-incr=float 2.0 amount to multiply current zoomlevel by when
zooming
--csv-dialect=str excel dialect passed to csv.reader
--csv-delimiter=str , delimiter passed to csv.reader
--csv-quotechar=str " quotechar passed to csv.reader
--csv-skipinitialspace=bool True skipinitialspace passed to csv.reader
--fixed-rows=int 1000 number of rows to check for fixed width
columns
DISPLAY OPTIONS
Display options can only be set via the Options Sheet or a config file (see FILES).
disp_none visible contents of a cell whose value is None
disp_date_fmt %Y-%m-%d default fmtstr to strftime for date values
disp_truncator … indicator that the contents are only partially
visible
disp_oddspace · displayable character for odd whitespace
disp_unprintable . substitute character for unprintables
disp_column_sep | separator between columns
disp_keycol_sep ‖ separator between keys and rest of columns
disp_status_fmt {sheet.name}| status line prefix
disp_status_sep | separator between statuses
disp_edit_fill _ edit field fill character
disp_more_left < header note indicating more columns to the left
disp_more_right > header note indicating more columns to the right
disp_error_val ¿ displayed contents for computation exception
disp_ambig_width 1 width to use for unicode chars marked ambiguous
color_default normal the default color
color_default_hdr bold underline color of the column headers
color_current_row reverse color of the cursor row
color_current_col bold color of the cursor column
color_current_hdr reverse underline color of the header for the cursor column
color_column_sep 246 blue color of column separators
color_key_col 81 cyan color of key columns
color_selected_row 215 yellow color of selected rows
color_status bold status line color
color_edit_cell normal edit cell color
disp_pending string to display in pending cells
color_note_pending bold magenta color of note of pending cells
color_note_type 226 green cell note for numeric types in anytype columns
color_format_exc 48 bold yellow color of formatting exception note
color_getter_exc red bold color of computation exception note
disp_histogram * histogram element character
disp_histolen 80 width of histogram column
disp_replay_play ▶ status indicator for active replay
disp_replay_pause ‖ status indicator for paused replay
disp_pixel_random False randomly choose attr from set of pixels instead of
most common
color_graph_hidden 238 blue color of legend for hidden attribute
color_graph_axis bold color for graph axis labels
EXAMPLES
vd foo.tsv
vd -f sqlite bar.db
vd postgres://username:password@hostname:port/database
vd --play tests/pivot.vd --replay-wait 1 --output tests/pivot.tsv
ls -l | vd -f fixed --skip 1 --header 0
vd --diff foo.tsv bar.tsv
FILES
At the start of every session, VisiData looks for $HOME/.visidatarc, and calls Python exec()
on its contents if it exists. For example:
options.min_memory_mb=100 # stop processing without 100MB free
globalCommand('0', 'gh') # alias '0' to move to first column, like vim
def median(values):
L = sorted(values)
return L[len(L)//2]
aggregator('median', median)
SUPPORTED SOURCES
These are the supported sources:
tsv (tab-separated value)
Plain and simple. VisiData writes tsv format by default. See the --delimiter option.
csv (comma-separated value)
.csv files are a scourge upon the earth, and still regrettably common.
See the --csv-dialect, --csv-delimiter, --csv-quotechar, and --csv-skipinitialspace
options.
Accepted dialects are excel-tab, unix, and excel.
fixed (fixed width text)
Columns are autodetected from the first 1000 rows (adjustable with --fixed-rows).
json (single object) and jsonl (one object per line).
Cells containing lists (e.g. [3]) or dicts ({3}) can be opened into a new sheet with
with z^Y.
The following URL schemes are supported:
http (requires requests); can be used as transport for with another filetype
postgres (requires psycopg2)
The following sources may include multiple tables. The initial sheet is the table directory;
Enter loads the entire table into memory.
sqlite
xlsx (requires openpyxl)
xls (requires xlrd)
hdf5 (requires h5py)
shp (requires pyshp)
mbtiles (requires mapbox-vector-tile)
html (requires lxml)
In addition, .zip and .gz files are decompressed on-the-fly.
AUTHOR
VisiData was made by Saul Pwanson <vd@saul.pw>.