minimal-csv-diff 0.1.0

Minimal tool to compare CSV files and generate diff reports

minimal-csv-diff

A minimal tool to compare CSV files and generate diff reports for data validation.

Features

• Compare two CSV files with common column names
• Interactive selection of key fields for comparison
• Generate detailed diff reports when differences are found
• Command-line interface for quick data validation
• Identifies unique rows and column-level differences
• Exports results to CSV format for further analysis

Installation

pip install minimal-csv-diff

Usage

Command Line Interface

Navigate to the directory containing your CSV files and run:

minimal-csv-diff

The tool will guide you through:

1. Selecting the working directory
2. Choosing file delimiter
3. Picking two CSV files to compare
4. Selecting columns for the surrogate key
5. Generating a diff.csv report if differences exist

With uvx (no installation needed)

Run directly without installing:

uvx minimal-csv-diff

Programmatic Usage

from minimal_csv_diff.main import main

# Run the interactive comparison
main()

Output

When differences are found, the tool generates a diff.csv file with:

• surrogate_key: Concatenated key fields for row identification
• source: Which file the row comes from
• failed_columns: Which columns differ or "UNIQUE ROW" for rows that exist in only one file
• All original columns: Complete data for comparison

Example Workflow

1. Place your CSV files in a directory
2. Run minimal-csv-diff
3. Follow the prompts to select files and key columns
4. Review the generated diff.csv for validation results

Development

This project uses uv for dependency management.

git clone https://github.com/joon-solutions/looker_data_validation
cd looker_data_validation
uv sync
uv run minimal-csv-diff

Requirements

• Python >= 3.10
• pandas >= 2.0.0

License

MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.