CSV-VE

csv-ve is a simple CSV viewer and editor for the terminal, built with Textual in Python.
You can quickly open and edit your CSV file. Navigate using the arrow keys or the mouse. Edit, add or remove row and columns using simple key bindings.

Many similar tui tools exist for CSV and also written in Go or Rust so likely with better performances that Python. But I wanted to make my own and Textual is an awesome library to create simple and visually appealing apps with minimal overhead.

Features

• Edit data: add or remove rows and columns, edit or copy cell content
• Navigation: arrow keys, basic vim keys (hjkl gG), jumpt to a cell/ row/ col using coordiantes (ex: 12:3 - go to row 12, column 3)
• Launch the app using the command line

+ all built-in Textual features (many dark and light themes, command palette, keymap cheatsheet, SVG screenshots)

Requirements

• Python >= 3.12
• Textual >=7.0.0
• Polars>=1.36.1
• Typer>=0.21.1

Components:

• data_model.py: Handles the data and the data manipulations with Polars in a custom Class
• ui.py: Textual app with all the added features
  • csveditorapp.tss: textual CSS for ui.py
• screens/screen.py: Pop up screen to navigate to a specific cell/ row/ col
  • screens/screen.tss: textual CSS for screen.py
• helpers.py: helper function not directly related to the app itself

Textual has many built-in themes that you can select using the command palette

Installation (with uv)

Install using uv

uv tool install https://github.com/CalHenry/csv-ve.git

To install UV:

Macos:

brew install uv

Unix:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

(optional) Use an alias

echo '' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'alias csv="csve-ve"' >> ~/.zshrc 
# you can set your favorite theme in the alias to always launch the app with this theme: 
# alias csv="csve-ve --theme 'textual-light'
source ~/.zshrc

Folder structure

.
├── LICENSE
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
├── screenshots
│   └── basic_snapshot.png
├── src
│   └── csv_ve
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── __main__.py
│       ├── cli.py          # <- cli script
│       ├── csv_ve.tcss
│       ├── data_model.py   # <- 'backend' with polars
│       ├── helpers.py
│       ├── screens
│       │   ├── goto_cell_screen.py
│       │   └── screen.tcss
│       └── ui.py           # <- Textual app
├── test_csv.csv
└── uv.lock

---

Dev

• being able to add new rows (used the data model and not textual to achieve this)
• being able to add new cols
• jump to a specific cell or row or col using coordinates (format: row:col e.g. 12:3 - only support numeric coordinates)
• delete rows
• delete cols
• enter edit mode by pressing 'enter' instead of 'e' keymap
• copy cell content directly from the table (content of highlighted cell)
• resize columns
• cli
• vim navigation keys (hjk), g to go top, G to got bottom
• filtering rows/ search values ?

Theme

• highlight col clicking on col header
• highlight row when clicking on row label

Dev

• tests

Others

• benchmarks