Install VisiData

This guide will cover the steps for installing VisiData and provide troubleshooting assistance.

Quick Reference

Platform Package Manager Command Out-of-box Loaders
all pip3 pip3 install visidata Base
all conda conda install --channel conda-forge visidata Base, http, html, xls(x)
MacOS Homebrew brew install saulpw/vd/visidata Base, http, html, xls(x)
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) apt apt install visidata Base, http, html, xls(x)
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) dpkg dpkg -i visidata_ver_all.deb Base, http, html, xls(x)
Windows WSL Windows is not yet directly supported (use WSL) N/A
all github pip3 install git+https://github.com/saulpw/visidata.git Base
Linux (NixOS) nix nix-env -i visidata Base, yaml, xls(x), hdf5, html, pandas, shp

If the one-line install commands above do not work, see below for detailed instructions and troubleshooting.

The base VisiData package

A loader is a module which directs how VisiData structures and engages with a particular data source.

Each package contains the full loader suite but differs in which loader dependencies will get installed by default. This is to avoid bloating the system for most users, who are not interested in using those features.

When we mention the base VisiData package, we are referring to the VisiData loaders whose dependencies are covered by the Python3 standard library. Currently these include the loaders for tsv, csv, fixed width text, json, and sqlite. Additionally, .zip, .gz, .bz2, and .xz files can be decompressed on the fly.

Comprehensive installation guide

pip3

Requires:

To verify that both python3 and pip3 are installed, type python3 -m pip help in your terminal. You should see the helpstring for pip3 in your console.

To install VisiData:

pip3 install visidata

To update VisiData:

pip3 install --upgrade visidata

VisiData supports many sources, but not all dependencies are installed automatically.

Out-of-box, you can load all file formats supported by the Python3 standard library including csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, and sqlite. Additional Python packages may be required for opening other supported data sources.

To install any of one the dependencies:

pip3 install <package>

To install dependencies for all loaders (which might take some time and disk space):

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/visidata/stable/requirements.txt
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Note: The pipx tool is an optional convenience layer on top of pip. It can help keep VisiData and its dependencies in an isolated environment, to avoid clashes with other Python packages on your system. With pipx installed:

# Install VisiData
pipx install visidata

# Upgrade to the latest stable version
pipx upgrade visidata

# Add packages to VisiData's environment
pipx inject visidata <package>

# Install a specific version of VisiData
pipx install git+https://github.com/saulpw/visidata@v2.-2.1

conda

Requires:

Add the conda-forge channel:

conda config --add channels conda-forge

To install VisiData:

conda install visidata

To update VisiData:

conda update visidata

Note, that the VisiData feedstock comes preloaded with additional dependencies.

Out-of-box, you can load csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, sqlite, http, html, .xls, and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel).

Additional Python packages will be required for opening other supported data sources.

If these packages are included in the conda environment, they can be installed with

conda install <package>

brew

Requires:

Add the the vd tap:

brew tap saulpw/vd

To install VisiData:

brew install visidata

To update VisiData:

brew update
brew upgrade visidata

Note, that the VisiData formula comes preloaded with additional dependencies.

Out-of-box, you can load csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, sqlite, http, html, .xls, and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel).

NOTE: There is no method, which is known to the package maintainer, to install additional dependencies for a brewed Python package. If anyone does know of one please, please let us know.

apt

Requires:

Install apt-transport-https, which apt requires to communicate with a repository using https:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https

Grab our public key:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/deb-vd/master/devotees.gpg.key
sudo apt-key add devotees.gpg.key

Add our repository to apt's search list:

sudo add-apt-repository \
    "deb [arch=amd64] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/deb-vd/master \
    sid \
    main"

To install VisiData:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install visidata

To update VisiData:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install visidata

Note, that the VisiData .deb comes preloaded with additional dependencies.

Out-of-box, you can load csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, sqlite, http, html, .xls, and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel).

dpkg

Requires:

dpkg allows you to manually download and install VisiData, thus bypassing the need to add the repository's index.

First, go to our repository and download the preferred version of VisiData.

To install VisiData:

sudo dpkg -i /path/to/visidata_version_all.deb

To uninstall VisiData:

sudo dpkg -r visidata

Note, that the VisiData .deb comes preloaded with additional dependencies.

Out-of-box, you can load csv, tsv, fixed-width text, json, sqlite, http, html, .xls, and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel).

wsl

Windows is not yet directly supported. We recommend trying to use ConEmu as your terminal on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). You can find discussion on this topic here.

source code

If you want to use bleeding edge unreleased features (which may not always work), you can do so by installing from the development branch on git.

To install VisiData:

pip3 install git+https://github.com/saulpw/visidata.git@develop

See pip3 above for further information on loaders and dependency management.

nix-env

This package is maintained by the wonderful folks at nixpkgs. Please refer all questions and requests for troubleshooting assistance to them.

Requires:

To install VisiData:

$ nix-env -i visidata

To upgrade VisiData:

$ nix-env -u visidata

To uninstall VisiData:

$ nix-env -e visidata