csv-peek

Preview and analyze CSV/TSV files in the terminal. Shows a formatted table, infers column types, and optionally computes basic statistics. Zero dependencies.

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Why?

csvkit needs Python. xsv needs Rust. Excel needs Excel. csv-peek runs anywhere Node.js is installed.

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Install

npm install -g csv-peek

Or without installing:

npx csv-peek data.csv

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Usage

csv-peek data.csv                    # Preview first 10 rows
csv-peek data.csv --rows 25          # Preview 25 rows
csv-peek data.csv --stats            # Include column statistics
csv-peek data.csv --cols "name,age"  # Show specific columns only
csv-peek data.tsv --delimiter tab    # Force delimiter
csv-peek data.csv --json             # Output as JSON

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Example Output

csv-peek  users.csv
  1,234 rows · 6 columns · delimiter: "," · 48.2KB

  id:number  name:string  email:string  age:number  country:string  active:boolean

  ┌──────┬───────────────────┬──────────────────────────┬─────┬─────────┬────────┐
  │ id   │ name              │ email                    │ age │ country │ active │
  ├──────┼───────────────────┼──────────────────────────┼─────┼─────────┼────────┤
  │ 1    │ Alice Johnson     │ alice@example.com        │ 32  │ US      │ true   │
  │ 2    │ Bob Smith         │ bob@example.com          │ 28  │ UK      │ true   │
  │ 3    │ Carol White       │ carol@example.com        │ 45  │ CA      │ false  │
  └──────┴───────────────────┴──────────────────────────┴─────┴─────────┴────────┘

  Showing 10 of 1,234 rows. Use --rows 1234 to see all.

With --stats:

Column Statistics

  id          number
    min: 1  max: 1,234  avg: 617.50  missing: 0

  name        string
    unique: 1,234  top: "Alice Johnson" (1×)  missing: 2

  age         number
    min: 18  max: 72  avg: 34.21  missing: 0

  active      boolean
    unique: 2  top: "true" (891×)  missing: 0

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Column Types

Automatically inferred per column:

Type	Detection
number	All non-empty values parse as numbers
date	>80% values match common date formats
boolean	All values are true/false/yes/no/1/0
string	Everything else
empty	All values are blank

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Supported Delimiters

Auto-detected from the first line. Can override with --delimiter:

• , — CSV (default)
• \t — TSV (--delimiter tab)
• ; — European CSV (--delimiter ;)
• | — Pipe-delimited (--delimiter |)

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License

MIT

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Keywords

csv viewer · csv preview · csv stats · csvkit alternative · view csv terminal · inspect csv · tsv viewer · column types · zero dependencies · cli

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Scan your dependencies for free

This tool has zero dependencies by design — but your other projects might not be so lean. DepWarden scans any package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt, go.mod, or lockfile for vulnerabilities, licence issues, and supply-chain risks. Anonymous, no account needed, results in seconds.

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Support & Feedback

Found a bug or have a suggestion? Email hello@depwarden.in or raise a support ticket.

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Built to solve, shared to help — Rushabh Shah 🛠️✨

_{One of 40+ zero-dependency developer CLI tools — no node_modules, ever.}