Tidy Viewer (tv)
Tidy Viewer (tv) is a cross-platform csv pretty printer that uses column styling to maximize viewer enjoyment.
Pretty Printing
Installation
The following install options are available
- Cargo Install from crates.io
- Debian
.debinstall - AUR
- MacOS
- ARM
- Windows
- Build from source (Most general)
1. Cargo Install
The following will install from the crates.io source. For convenience add the alas alias tv='tidy-viewer' to bashrc.
cargo install tidy-viewer
sudo cp /home/user/.cargo/bin/tidy-viewer /usr/local/bin/.
echo "alias tv='tidy-viewer'" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
2. Debian
wget tidy-viewer_<VERSION>_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i target/debian/tidy-viewer_<VERSION>_amd64.deb
echo "alias tv='tidy-viewer'" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
3. AUR
Kindly maintained by @yigitsever
paru -S tidy-viewer
4. Other releases
We currently cut releases for the following architectures. Download from the release page.
- MacOS
- ARM
- Windows
- Build from source (Most general)
The instuctions for all of the above are very similar with the following general steps.
- Download your desired release from the release page
tar -xvzfcdinto uncompressed folder- Find binary
tidy-viewer
After the above steps I would highly reccomend you make an alias for tidy-viewer as shown for other builds.
Examples
Have some fun with the following datasets!
Diamonds
# Download the diamonds data
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tidyverse/ggplot2/master/data-raw/diamonds.csv
# pipe to tv
cat diamonds.csv | tv
Starwars
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tidyverse/dplyr/master/data-raw/starwars.csv
cat starwars.csv | tv
Pigeon Racing
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joanby/python-ml-course/master/datasets/pigeon-race/pigeon-racing.csv
cat pigeon-racing.csv | tv
Significant Figure Definitions & Rules
The first three digits represent > 99.9% the value of a number. -- GNU-R Pillar
tv uses the same significant figure (sigfig) rules that the R package pillar uses.
The purpose of the sigfig rules in tv is to guide the eye to the most important information in a number. This section defines terms and the decision tree used in the calculation of the final value displayed.
Definitions
βββββββ βββββββ ββ
β β β β β
β β β β β
β β β β β
β β β β β
β β ββ β β β
βββββββ ββ βββββββ βββ΄β
β β β β
ββββββββββ β² ββββββββββββββββββ
left hand side β right hand side
(lhs) β (rhs)
decimal
left hand side (lhs): digits on the left hand side of the decimal.
right hand side (rhs): digits on the right hand side of the decimal.
βββββββ βββββββ ββ βββββββ
β β β β β β β
β β β β β β β
β β β β β β β
β β β β β β β
β β ββ β β β β β
βββββββ ββ βββββββ βββ΄β βββββββ
β β β β
βββββββββββββββββββββββ βββββββββ
leading 0s trailing 0s
leading 0s: 0s to the left of a non-zero.
trailing 0s: 0s to the right of a non-zero. The zeros in 500m are trailing as well as the 0s in 0.500km.
ββ βββββββ ββ
β β β β
β β β β
β β β β
β β β β
β β β ββ β
βββ΄β βββββββ ββ βββ΄β
β β
ββββββββββ
fractional digit(s)
fractional digits: Digits on the rhs of the decimal. The represent the non-integer part of a number.
Rules
There are only 4 outputs possible. The significant figures to display are set by the user. Assume sigfig = 3:
- lhs only (
12345.0 -> 12345): If no fractional digits are present and lhs >= sigfig then return lhs - lhs + point (
1234.5 -> 1234.): If fractional digits are present and lhs >= sigfig then return lhs with point. This is to let the user know that some decimal dust is beyond the main mass of the number. - lhs + point + rhs (
1.2345 -> 1.23): If fractional digits are present and lhs < sigfig return the first three digits of the number. - long rhs (
0.00001 -> 0.00001): This is reserved for values with leading 0s in the rhs.
# Psuedo Code: Sigfig logic assuming sigfig = 3
if lhs == 0:
n = ((floor(log10(abs(x))) + 1 - sigfig)
r =(10^n) * round(x / (10^n))
return r
// (0.12345 -> 0.123)
else:
if log10(lhs) + 1 > sigfig:
if rhs > 0:
//concatenate:
//(lhs)
//(point)
//(123.45 -> 123.)
else:
//concatenate:
//(lhs)
//(1234.0 -> 1234)
//(100.0 -> 100)
else:
//concatenate:
//(lhs)
//(point)
//sigfig - log10(lhs) from rhs
//(12.345 -> 12.3)
//(1.2345 -> 1.23)
Tools to pair with tv
tv is a good compliment to command line data manipulation tools. I have listed some tools that I like to use with tv.
xsv - Command line csv data manipulation. Rust
csvtk - Command line csv data manipulation. Go
tsv-utils - Command line csv data manipulation toolkit. D
q - Command line csv data manipulation query-like. Python
miller - Command line data manipulation, statistics, and more. C
Tools similar to tv
column Comes standard with linux. To get similar functionality run column file.csv -ts,
Though column is similar I do think there are some reasons tv is a better tool.
1. NA comprehension
NA values are very important! Viewers should have their attention drawn to these empty cells. In the image below NA values are not only invisible, but it seems to be causing incorrect alignment in other columns.
2. Column Overflow Logic
In cases where the terminal width can't fit all of the columns in a dataframe, column will try to smush data on the rows below. This results in an unpleasant viewing experience.
tv can automatically tell when there will be too many columns to print. When this occurs it will only print the columns that fit in the terminal and mention the extras in the footer below the table.
Inspiration
pillar - R's tibble like formatting. Fantastic original work by Kirill MΓΌller and Hadley Wickham. tv makes an attempt to port their ideas to the terminal.
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