vd
Terminal-based data exploration spreadsheet
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
vd [options] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
vd (VisiData) is a terminal-based spreadsheet and data exploration tool. It opens tabular data from many formats including CSV, JSON, Excel, SQLite, and remote URLs.Navigation uses vim-style keys. Sheets stack like buffers; q closes current sheet, returning to previous. The sheets sheet (S) shows all open sheets.Data analysis features include frequency tables (F), column statistics (I), and aggregations (+). Group rows with g prefix commands. Create pivot tables and perform joins between sheets.Selection (s/t/u) marks rows for operations. Use | to select by regex or , for exact match. " opens selected rows as new sheet.Changes can be saved back to files with Ctrl+s. Command logs enable reproducible transformations and batch processing with -b.
PARAMETERS
-f filetype
Force input file type.-p cmdlog
Replay a saved command log file within the interface.-b, --batch
Run in batch mode (no interface): replay cmdlog and exit.-o file
Save the final sheet to file on exit (used with -b).--readonly
Disable saving/modifying.-d delimiter
Field delimiter for text files.-c cmdlog
Execute cmdlog file.--diff file
Show diff between sources.-h, --help
Display help information.-v, --version
Display version information.
KEYBOARD COMMANDS
h/j/k/l or arrows
Navigate cells.gg/G
Go to first/last row.gh/gl
Go to first/last column./
Search in current column.|
Select rows matching regex.,
Select rows where current column equals current cell.s/t/u
Select/toggle/unselect current row.gs/gt/gu
Select/toggle/unselect all rows.[/]
Sort by current column ascending/descending.Enter
Open row as a new sheet (dive into nested data).F
Frequency/pivot table for current column.I
Describe sheet (statistics for all columns).+
Add aggregator to column.S
Open the Sheets sheet to switch between open sheets.Ctrl+s
Save current sheet.q
Quit current sheet.
CAVEATS
Large files may use significant memory. Some formats require additional Python packages. Editing support varies by file type. Complex operations have learning curve.
HISTORY
VisiData was created by Saul Pwanson and first released in 2016. It was designed as a universal tool for exploring tabular data in the terminal, inspired by sc but supporting many formats. The project emphasizes keyboard efficiency and exploratory data analysis. VisiData has grown to support dozens of data formats and is widely used for data journalism and analysis workflows.
