$ csvtool --help csvtool - Copyright (C) 2005-2006 Richard W.M. Jones, Merjis Ltd. - Copyright (C) 2007- Richard W.M. Jones & Christophe Troestler
csvtool is a tool for performing manipulations on CSV files from shell scripts.
Summary: csvtool [-options] command [command-args] input.csv [input2.csv [...]]
Commands: col <column-spec> Return one or more columns from the CSV file.
For <column-spec>, see below.
Example: csvtool col 1-3,6 input.csv > output.csv
namedcol <names> Assuming the first row of the CSV file is a list of column headings, this returned the column(s) with the named headings.
<names> is a comma-separated list of names.
Example: csvtool namedcol Account,Cost input.csv > output.csv
width Print the maximum width of the CSV file (number of columns in the widest row).
height Print the number of rows in the CSV file.
For most CSV files this is equivalent to 'wc -l', but note that some CSV files can contain a row which breaks over two (or more) lines.
setcolumns cols Set the number of columns to cols (this also makes the CSV file square). Any short rows are padding with blank cells. Any long rows are truncated.
setrows rows 'setrows n' sets the number of rows to 'n'. If there are fewer than 'n' rows in the CSV files, then empty blank lines are added.
head rows take rows 'head n' and 'take n' (which are synonyms) take the first 'n' rows. If there are fewer than 'n' rows, padding is not added.
drop rows Drop the first 'rows' rows and return the rest (if any).
Example: To remove the headings from a CSV file with headings: csvtool drop 1 input.csv > output.csv
To extract rows 11 through 20 from a file: csvtool drop 10 input.csv | csvtool take 10 - > output.csv
cat This concatenates the input files together and writes them to the output. You can use this to change the separator character.
Example: csvtool -t TAB -u COMMA cat input.tsv > output.csv
paste Concatenate the columns of the files together and write them to the output.
Example: csvtool paste input1.csv input2.csv > output.csv
pastecol <column-spec1> <column-spec2> input.csv update.csv Replace the content of the columns referenced by <column-spec1> in the file input.csv with the one of the corresponding column specified by <column-spec2> in update.csv.
Example: csvtool pastecol 2-3 1- input.csv update.csv.csv > output.csv
join <column-spec1> <column-spec2> Join (collate) multiple CSV files together.
<column-spec1> controls which columns are compared.
<column-spec2> controls which columns are copied into the new file.
Example: csvtool join 1 2 coll1.csv coll2.csv > output.csv
In the above example, if coll1.csv contains: Computers,$40 Software,$100 and coll2.csv contains: Computers,$50 then the output will be: Computers,$40,$50 Software,$100,
square Make the CSV square, so all rows have the same length.
Example: csvtool square input.csv > input-square.csv
trim [tlrb]+ Trim empty cells at the top/left/right/bottom of the CSV file.
Example: csvtool trim t input.csv # trims empty rows at the top only csvtool trim tb input.csv # trims empty rows at the top & bottom csvtool trim lr input.csv # trims empty columns at left & right csvtool trim tlrb input.csv # trims empty rows/columns all around
sub r c rows cols Take a square subset of the CSV, top left at row r, column c, which is rows deep and cols wide. 'r' and 'c' count from 1, or from 0 if -z option is given.
replace <column-spec> update.csv original.csv Replace rows in original.csv with rows from update.csv. The columns in <column-spec> only are used to compare rows in input.csv and update.csv to see if they are candidates for replacement.
Example: csvtool replace 3 updates.csv original.csv > new.csv mv new.csv original.csv
transpose input.csv Transpose the lines and columns of the CSV file.
format fmt Print each row of the files according to the format 'fmt'. Each occurrence of "%i" or "%(i)" (where 'i' is a number) in 'fmt' is replaced by the content of column number 'i' (remember that the leftmost column is numbered 1 in the traditional spreadsheet fashion). A literal percent is obtained by doubling it. The usual escape sequences \n, \r, and \t are recognized.
Example: csvtool format '%(1) -> %8%%\n' input.csv
call command This calls the external command (or shell function) 'command' followed by a parameter for each column in the CSV file. The external command is called once for each row in the CSV file. If any command returns a non-zero exit code then the whole program terminates.
Tip: Use the shell command 'export -f funcname' to export a shell function for use as a command. Within the function, use the positional parameters $1, $2, ... to refer to the columns.
Example (with a shell function): function test { echo Column 1: $1 echo Column 2: $2 } export -f test csvtool call test my.csv
In the above example, if my.csv contains: how,now brown,cow then the output is: Column 1: how Column 2: now Column 1: brown Column 2: cow
readable Print the input CSV in a readable format.
Column specs: A <column-spec> is a comma-separated list of column numbers or column ranges.
Examples: 1 Column 1 (the first, leftmost column) 2,5,7 Columns 2, 5 and 7 1-3,5 Columns 1, 2, 3 and 5 1,5- Columns 1, 5 and up.
Columns are numbered starting from 1 unless the -z option is given.
Input files: csvtool takes a list of input file(s) from the command line.
If an input filename is '-' then take input from stdin.
Output file: Normally the output is written to stdout. Use the -o option to override this.
Separators: The default separator character is , (comma). To change this on input or output see the -t and -u options respectively.
Use -t TAB or -u TAB (literally T-A-B!) to specify tab-separated files.
Options: -t Input separator char. Use -t TAB for tab separated input. -u Output separator char. Use -u TAB for tab separated output. -o Write output to file (instead of stdout) -z Number columns from 0 instead of 1 -help Display this list of options --help Display this list of options |