visidata 1.0

curses interface for exploring and arranging tabular data

# VisiData v1.0 [](https://circleci.com/gh/saulpw/visidata/tree/stable)

A terminal interface for exploring and arranging tabular data.

## Dependencies

• Linux or OS/X

• Python 3.4+

• python-dateutil

• other modules may be required for opening particular data sources

  • see [requirements.txt](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/stable/requirements.txt) or the [supported sources](http://visidata.org/man/#loaders) in the vd manpage

### Install via pip3

Best installation method for users who wish to take advantage of VisiData in their own code, or integrate it into a Python3 virtual environment.

To install VisiData, with loaders for the most common data file formats (including csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, sqlite, http, html and xls):

$ pip3 install visidata

To install VisiData, plus external dependencies for all available loaders:

$ pip3 install “visidata[full]”

### Install via brew

Ideal for MacOS users who primarily want to engage with VisiData as an application. This is currently the most reliable way to install VisiData’s manpage on MacOS.

$ brew install saulpw/vd/visidata

Further instructions available [here](https://github.com/saulpw/homebrew-vd).

### Install via apt

Packaged for Linux users who do not wish to wrangle with PyPi or python3-pip.

Currently, VisiData is undergoing review for integration into the main Debian repository. Until then it is available in our [Debian repo](https://github.com/saulpw/deb-vd).

Grab our public key

$ wget http://visidata.org/devotees.gpg.key $ apt-key add devotees.gpg.key

Add our repository to apt’s search list

$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https $ sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list

deb[arch=amd64] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/deb-vd/master sid main

$ sudo apt-get update

You can then install VisiData by typing:

sudo apt-get install visidata

Further instructions available [here](https://github.com/saulpw/deb-vd).

## Usage

$ vd [<options>] <input> … $ <command> | vd [<options>]

VisiData supports tsv, csv, xlsx, hdf5, sqlite, json and more. Use -f <filetype> to force a particular filetype. (See the [list of supported sources](http://visidata.org/man#sources)).

## Documentation

• Quick reference: F1 (or z?) within vd will open the [man page](http://visidata.org/man), which has a list of all commands and options.

• [visidata.org/docs](http://visidata.org/docs) has a complete list of links to all official documentation.

## Help and Support

For additional information, see the [support page](http://visidata.org/support).

## vdtui

The core vdtui.py can be used to quickly create efficient terminal workflows. These have been prototyped as proof of this concept:

• [vgit](https://github.com/saulpw/vgit): a git interface

• [vsh](http://github.com/saulpw/vsh): a collection of utilities like vping and vtop.

• [vdgalcon](https://github.com/saulpw/vdgalcon): a port of the classic game [Galactic Conquest](https://www.galcon.com)

Other workflows should also be created as separate apps using vdtui. These apps can be very small and provide a lot of functionality; for example, see the included [viewtsv](bin/viewtsv).

## License

The innermost core file, vdtui.py, is a single-file stand-alone library that provides a solid framework for building text user interface apps. It is distributed under the MIT free software license, and freely available for inclusion in other projects.

Other VisiData components, including the main vd application, addons, loaders, and other code in this repository, are available for use and distribution under GPLv3.

## Credits

VisiData was created and developed by Saul Pwanson <[e-mail]>.

Thanks to all the [contributors](CONTRIBUTING.md#contributors), and to those wonderful users who provide feedback, for making VisiData the awesome tool that it is.