CSV sidekick
Open CSV, TSV, and TAB files as a fast, read-only table inside Visual Studio
Code.
Features
- Correctly parses quoted fields, escaped quotes, commas inside values, and
embedded line breaks.
- Detects comma, tab, semicolon, and pipe delimiters.
- Detects UTF-8, UTF-16 BOMs, and Windows-1252 fallback text.
- Virtualizes rows and columns so large files remain responsive.
- Right-aligns numeric values and uses tabular number spacing.
- Cycles through 16 color-blind-friendly colors to distinguish columns in
every supported delimiter format.
- Includes a Tail 10 table mode that shows only the final ten data records
while retaining the frozen header.
- Freezes the first record as the header row by default.
- Keeps the first record visible with Sticky Scroll when opened in the text
editor.
- Freezes Excel-style panes at the selected cell, pinning every row above it
and every column to its left until Unfreeze is selected.
- Cleans header names or converts them to
snake_case, camelCase,
PascalCase, or kebab-case without changing the source file.
- Optionally trims leading/trailing whitespace and shows alternating row
backgrounds.
- Auto-fits or manually resizes columns.
- Copies a cell, selected rows or columns, or the complete table as
Excel-compatible TSV or a Markdown table. Click a column header to select
it; use Ctrl/Cmd-click to add columns or Shift-click to select a range.
Markdown copy right-aligns numeric columns and left-aligns other columns,
matching Excel defaults. Copy output includes the visible header and trim
transforms.
- Provides every viewer action from a table right-click context menu.
- Adds a native 🧰 PK CSV right-click submenu in the text editor for opening
the table, modifying header names, trimming every field, and copying the
complete file as Excel or Markdown data. Text-editor cleaning actions modify
the document and support normal Undo.
- Highlights visible text-editor fields with the same 16-color column cycle;
use PK CSV → Toggle Text Column Colors from the right-click menu to switch
it on or off.
- Reloads automatically when another program saves the file.
- Never modifies the source file.
Use Open as text in the viewer toolbar, or Open With… → Text Editor, when
you want to edit the raw file.
Settings
pkCsv.delimiter: automatic, comma, tab, semicolon, or pipe.pkCsv.encoding: automatic, UTF-8, UTF-16 LE/BE, or Windows-1252.pkCsv.freezeHeader: pin the first record as column labels on open.pkCsv.freezeTextHeader: keep the first record pinned in the text editor.pkCsv.colorColumns: enable the color-blind-friendly column palette.pkCsv.alternateRows: enable alternating row backgrounds on open.pkCsv.trimWhitespace: trim displayed and copied values on open.pkCsv.colorTextColumns: color fields by column in the text editor.
Settings can be applied globally or per workspace. Reopen the file after
changing a setting.
Development
npm install
npm run build
npm test
Open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development
Host. Run npm run watch while developing. Create a local package with:
npm run package
code --install-extension .\csv-sidekick-0.6.4.vsix
See PUBLISHING.md for the Marketplace checklist and release
commands.
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