tablify(1p)

Usage

tablify [options] file

Options:

when used in conjunction with "no-headers"

the list should be field numbers (starting at 1);

where field "f" matches the value "v"; acceptable

the number of columns

Overview

This script is essentially a quick way to parse a delimited text file and view it as a nice ASCII table. By selecting only certain fields, employing a where clause to only select records where a field matches some value, and using the limit to only see some of the output, you almost have a mini-database front-end for a simple text file.

Examples

Given a data file like this:

  name,rank,serial_no,is_living,age
  George,General,190293,0,64
  Dwight,General,908348,0,75
  Attila,Hun,,0,56
  Tojo,Emporor,,0,87
  Tommy,General,998110,1,54

To find the fields you can reference, use the list option:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -l people.dat 
  +-----------+-----------+
  | Field No. | Field     |
  +-----------+-----------+
  | 1         | name      |
  | 2         | rank      |
  | 3         | serial_no |
  | 4         | is_living |
  | 5         | age       |
  +-----------+-----------+

To extract just the name and serial numbers, use the fields option:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -f name,serial_no people.dat 
  +--------+-----------+
  | name   | serial_no |
  +--------+-----------+
  | George | 190293    |
  | Dwight | 908348    |
  | Attila |           |
  | Tojo   |           |
  | Tommy  | 998110    |
  +--------+-----------+
  5 records returned

To extract the first through third fields and the fifth field (where field numbers start at "1" -- tip: use the list option to quickly determine field numbers), use this syntax for fields:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -f 1-3,5 people.dat 
  +--------+---------+-----------+------+
  | name   | rank    | serial_no | age  |
  +--------+---------+-----------+------+
  | George | General | 190293    | 64   |
  | Dwight | General | 908348    | 75   |
  | Attila | Hun     |           | 56   |
  | Tojo   | Emporor |           | 87   |
  | Tommy  | General | 998110    | 54   |
  +--------+---------+-----------+------+
  5 records returned

To select only the ones with six serial numbers, use a where clause:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -w 'serial_no=~/^\d{6}$/' people.dat
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  | name   | rank    | serial_no | is_living | age  |
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  | George | General | 190293    | 0         | 64   |
  | Dwight | General | 908348    | 0         | 75   |
  | Tommy  | General | 998110    | 1         | 54   |
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  3 records returned

To find Dwight's record, you would do this:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -w 'name eq "Dwight"' people.dat
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  | name   | rank    | serial_no | is_living | age  |
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  | Dwight | General | 908348    | 0         | 75   |
  +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
  1 record returned

To find the name of all the people with a serial number who are living:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -f name -w 'is_living==1' -w 'serial_no>0' people.dat 
  +-------+
  | name  |
  +-------+
  | Tommy |
  +-------+
  1 record returned

To filter outside of program and simply format the results, use "-" as the last argument to force reading of STDIN (and probably assume no headers):

  $ grep General people.dat | tablify --fs ',' -f 1-3 --no-headers -
  +---------+--------+--------+
  | Field1  | Field2 | Field3 |
  +---------+--------+--------+
  | General | 190293 | 0      |
  | General | 908348 | 0      |
  | General | 998110 | 1      |
  +---------+--------+--------+
  3 records returned

When dealing with data lacking field names, you can specify "no-headers" and then refer to fields by number (starting at one), e.g.:

  $ tail -5 people.dat | tablify --fs ',' --no-headers -w '3 eq "General"' -
  +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
  | Field1 | Field2  | Field3 | Field4 | Field5 |
  +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
  | George | General | 190293 | 0      | 64     |
  | Dwight | General | 908348 | 0      | 75     |
  | Tommy  | General | 998110 | 1      | 54     |
  +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
  3 records returned

If your file has many fields which are hard to see across the screen, consider using the vertical display with "-v" or "--vertical", e.g.:

  $ tablify --fs ',' -v --limit 1 people.dat
  ************ Record 1 ************
       name: George
       rank: General
  serial_no: 190293
  is_living: 0
       age : 64
  
  1 record returned

License and copyright

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Releases

8 releases since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); the text changed 4 times.