csvcut - Man Page

csvcut Documentation

Examples (TL;DR)

Print indices and names of all columns: csvcut -n data.csv
Extract the first and third columns: csvcut -c 1,3 data.csv
Extract all columns except the fourth one: csvcut -C 4 data.csv
Extract the columns named "id" and "first name" (in that order): csvcut -c id,"first name" data.csv

Description

Filters and truncates CSV files. Like the Unix “cut” command, but for tabular data:

usage: csvcut [-h] [-d DELIMITER] [-t] [-q QUOTECHAR] [-u {0,1,2,3}] [-b]
              [-p ESCAPECHAR] [-z FIELD_SIZE_LIMIT] [-e ENCODING] [-S] [-H]
              [-K SKIP_LINES] [-v] [-l] [--zero] [-V] [-n] [-c COLUMNS]
              [-C NOT_COLUMNS] [-x]
              [FILE]

Filter and truncate CSV files. Like the Unix "cut" command, but for tabular
data.

positional arguments:
  FILE                  The CSV file to operate on. If omitted, will accept
                        input as piped data via STDIN.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n, --names           Display column names and indices from the input CSV
                        and exit.
  -c COLUMNS, --columns COLUMNS
                        A comma-separated list of column indices, names or
                        ranges to be extracted, e.g. "1,id,3-5". Defaults to
                        all columns.
  -C NOT_COLUMNS, --not-columns NOT_COLUMNS
                        A comma-separated list of column indices, names or
                        ranges to be excluded, e.g. "1,id,3-5". Defaults to no
                        columns.
  -x, --delete-empty-rows
                        After cutting, delete rows which are completely empty.

See also: Arguments common to all tools.
NOTE:: csvcut does not implement row filtering, for this you should pipe data to csvgrep.
NOTE:: If a data row is longer than the header row, its additional columns are truncated.

Examples

Print columns

Print the indices and names of all columns:

$ csvcut -n examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv
  1: State Name
  2: State Abbreviate
  3: Code
  4: Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty
  5: Montgomery GI Bill- Selective Reserve
  6: Dependents' Educational Assistance
  7: Reserve Educational Assistance Program
  8: Post-Vietnam Era Veteran's Educational Assistance Program
  9: TOTAL
 10:

Print only the names of all columns, by removing the indices with the cut command:

$ csvcut -n examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv | cut -c6-
State Name
State Abbreviate
Code
Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty
Montgomery GI Bill- Selective Reserve
Dependents' Educational Assistance
Reserve Educational Assistance Program
Post-Vietnam Era Veteran's Educational Assistance Program
TOTAL

Extract columns

Extract the first and third columns:

csvcut -c 1,3 examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv

Extract columns named “TOTAL” and “State Name” (in that order):

csvcut -c TOTAL,"State Name" examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv

Extract a column that may not exist in all files:

echo d, | csvjoin examples/dummy.csv - | csvcut -c d
 echo d, | csvjoin examples/join_no_header_row.csv - | csvcut -c d

Other

Add line numbers to a file, making no other changes:

csvcut -l examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv

Display a column’s unique values:

csvcut -c 1 examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv | sed 1d | sort | uniq

Or:

csvcut -c 1 examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv | csvsql --query 'SELECT DISTINCT("State Name") FROM stdin'

Author

Christopher Groskopf and contributors

Copyright

2024, Christopher Groskopf and James McKinney

Info

Aug 22, 2024 2.0.1 csvkit