What it does
VisiData is an interactive terminal tool for tabular data. It opens many spreadsheet, structured-text, scientific, and database formats and exports common table representations.
Open a file or standard input in VisiData, inspect/filter/restructure its table and save to a supported output. The loading guide's batch example converts fixed-width data to TSV; output type follows the filename extension unless -of overrides it. A supported loader is not necessarily a supported saver. For repeat transformations, save the command log as .vdj and replay it interactively or with -b. Logs retain original filenames/sheet names, so reusing one on another file requires removing hardcoded references or using suitable sheet navigation. A .vds snapshot instead saves sheets/columns without command history. This GPLv3 terminal tool also offers optional format adapters with their own dependencies.
Strengths
- Connects interactive data inspection with export and replayable sessions.
Best for
- Terminal users preparing unfamiliar tabular data for another workflow
Sources
- Open-source data multitool | VisiData (Oct 26, 2026)
- Loading data - VisiData (Oct 26, 2026)
- Save and Restore - VisiData (Oct 26, 2026)
- VisiData Internal Formats (Oct 26, 2026)