VisiData (vd)

Table of contents

See man vd for all options. This page is a reference for features I commonly use.

Column manipulation

Shortcut	Description
`_`	toggle between full and default width
`z_ <number>`	set column width
`^`	rename column
`i`	add column with incremental values
`: <regex>`	add new columns from regex split
`; <regex>`	add new columns from capture groups of regex
`-`	hide current column
`gv`	unhide all columns
`C`	go to Columns sheet
`(` / `)`	expand/collapse nested column
`g(` / `g)`	expand/collapse all visible columns

Change column data type

Shortcut	Description
`~`	string
`#`	int
`%`	float
`$`	currency (this is just a dirty float with 2 decimal places)
`@`	date
`z#`	length

Search

Shortcut	Description
`/` / `g/`	search forward in current/all columns
`?` / `g?`	search backward in current/all columns

Sorting

Shortcut	Description
`[` / `]`	sort ascending/descending by current column; replace any existing sort criteria
`g[` / `g]`	sort ascending/descending by all key columns; replace any existing sort criteria
`z[` / `z]`	sort ascending/descending by current column; add to existing sort criteria
`gz[` / `gz]`	sort ascending/descending by all key columns; add to existing sort criteria

Select rows

Shortcut	Description
`\|` / `g\|`	select rows matching regex in current/all columns
`\` / `g\`	unselect rows matching regex in current/all columns
`z\|` / `z\`	select/unselect rows matching a Python expr in any visible column
`s` / `t` / `u`	select/toggle/unselect current row
`gs` / `gt` / `gu`	select/toggle/unselect all rows
`,`	select all rows where the current column matches the current cell
`g,`	select all rows where any column matches the current cell

To select all rows except a pattern, first select the pattern using | <regex>, then gt to invert the selection.

Filtering rows

Select rows
" to open selected rows in new sheet

Editing

Shortcut	Description
`e`	edit contents of current cell
`ge <text>`	set contents of current column for selected rows to text
`g* <regex>/<subst>`	replace matching regex in current column for selected rows with subst
`g= <expr>`	evaluate Python expr over each selected row and set current column to the result

Tip: Columns can be renamed in bulk in the Columns sheet Shift+C. g* is particularly useful here.

Sheet management

Shift+S to view sheets.
d to remove sheets
e to rename sheet (e generally edits a column)

Copying to clipboard

Shortcut	Description
`Y` / `gY`	yank (copy) current/all selected row(s) to system clipboard
`zY` / `gzY`	yank (copy) contents of current column for current/selected row(s) to system clipboard

Histogram

Shift+F to show a histogram of values in the selected column
<Enter> on a histogram bin to view rows with that value

Save session (cmdlog)

Save cmdlog with CTRL+D
Replay cmdlog with the CLI flags -p <cmdlog> or --play <cmdlog>

Convert to X format

vd input.csv -b -o output.json
vd input.csv -b -o output.html
vd input.csv -b -o output.md
vd input.csv -b --save-filetype json -o - # Output json to stdout

Tip: Convert CSV files to JSON and use jq to explore.

Explore fixed width data

Many CLI programs output fixed width data. vd can be used to easily explore the output of these programs

kubectl get pods | vd -f fixed -

Filter by date

z| to filter a column by a Python expression
COLNAME > datetime.date(2022, 1, 1) as the expression.

Join datasets

https://www.visidata.org/docs/join/

Open the datasets in VisiData. Two options to do so:

vd d1.tsv d2.tsv
Press o and enter a filepath for each file.

To join:

Press S to open up the Sheets Sheet. Through here, you can navigate to every sheet by pressing Enter on the row it is referenced in.
Navigate to the sheets you want the join, and set their shared columns as key columns with !.
Press S to return to the Sheets sheet. Select the sheets you want to merge with s.
Optional: If performing a left outer join, use Shift+J or Shift+K to reorder the sheets. The first sheet will be the one for whom all rows will be retained.
Type & to open the join-chooser, and select your desired join type with Enter.

Append (concatenate) datasets

Open the datasets with VisiData.
Press Shift+S to open the Sheets sheet.
Use s or t to select the sheets to merge.
Type & and press Enter on append to concatenate the selected datasets.