TableDataView
A Visual Studio Code extension that displays CSV, TSV, and other tabular text files as interactive tables with graph and compare support.
Features
File Reading
- Supports
.csv, .tsv, .txt, and .dat files
- Automatic delimiter detection (comma, tab, space, semicolon, pipe)
- Automatic header detection — if the first row contains non-numeric values, it is used as column headers
Table View
- Row index column on the left and column index row at the top for easy reference
- First column is pinned (sticky) and stays visible while scrolling horizontally
- Virtual scrolling — handles large files with tens of thousands of rows smoothly
- Click a column header or any cell to select that column
- Shift+click to select a range of columns
- Ctrl/Cmd+click to toggle individual columns in a multi-selection
- Mouse drag to scroll the table in any direction
Navigation
| Button / Shortcut |
Action |
| Top |
Jump to first row |
| Bottom |
Jump to last row |
| Left |
Scroll to leftmost column |
| Right |
Scroll to rightmost column |
| ↑ / ↓ |
Scroll 5 rows up / down |
| ← / → |
Scroll one column left / right |
| Cmd/Ctrl + ↑ |
Jump to top |
| Cmd/Ctrl + ↓ |
Jump to bottom |
| Cmd/Ctrl + ← |
Jump to leftmost column |
| Cmd/Ctrl + → |
Jump to rightmost column |
Right-click any cell to access column-specific actions:
| Menu item |
Description |
| Set as x-axis |
Sets the column as the X-axis for graphing (highlighted in orange). Hidden if already the X-axis. |
| Reset x-axis |
Restores the default (leftmost) column as X-axis. Shown only when a custom X-axis is active. |
| Show in hex |
Displays column values as hexadecimal with a 0x prefix (highlighted in yellow). |
| Show numerical differences |
Replaces values with row-to-row differences value[k] − value[k−1]; first row is set to 0 (highlighted in green). |
| Show moving averages (n=10/30/100/1000) |
Replaces values with a rolling average over the last n rows (highlighted in blue). |
| Show original values |
Restores the original data. Shown when hex, diff, or moving average is active. |
| Find next change |
Scrolls to the next row where this column's value changes. |
| Go to max. value |
Scrolls to the row with the maximum value in this column. |
| Go to min. value |
Scrolls to the row with the minimum value in this column. |
At the bottom of the menu, column statistics are displayed (non-clickable):
- max, min, max−min, mean of the currently displayed values
| Button |
Description |
| Top / Bottom / Left / Right |
Navigate to the edges of the table |
| Show Graph |
Opens the graph panel for the selected columns |
| Reset All |
Resets X-axis, hex, diff, and moving average for all columns. Shown only when any transform is active. |
| Reload |
Reloads the file from disk, preserving current scroll position and transforms |
Graph View
Select one or more columns, then click Show Graph.
Graph interactions:
| Action |
Result |
| Left-click |
Places a crosshair and scrolls the table to that row |
| Right-click |
Places a second crosshair; displays delta values between the two crosshairs |
| Left-drag |
Zooms into the selected X range; Y range auto-fits the visible data |
| Double-click |
Resets zoom to show all data |
| Mouse wheel |
Zooms in/out around the cursor position |
| Right-drag (or Ctrl/Cmd+left-drag) |
Pans the view |
Graph features:
- The X-axis column (highlighted in orange) is used as X; all other selected columns are plotted as Y
- True XY graph with a linear numeric X-axis — supports non-uniform and multi-valued data
- A semi-transparent viewport box on the graph shows which rows are currently visible in the table; updates in real time as you scroll
- Show FFT — opens an FFT pane below the graph for the displayed data; resizable independently
- Resizable graph panel — drag the top edge to adjust height
- Adjustable Line width (0.5 / 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.0 / 3.0)
- Marker style (none / dot / circle)
- Hide Crosshair — hides both crosshairs
- Close — closes the graph panel
Compare View
Select two files in the Explorer, right-click, and choose TableDataView: compare.
Layout
- The two files are displayed side-by-side with synchronized horizontal and vertical scrolling
- Cells where the two files differ are highlighted with a red background
- Drag the center divider to resize the left and right panes
Column Matching
When the two files have different numbers of columns, columns are matched by header name using a multi-tier strategy:
- Case-sensitive exact match
- Best LCS (Longest Common Subsequence) similarity
- Case-insensitive exact match
- Case-insensitive LCS similarity
Synchronized Operations
All transforms apply to both sides simultaneously:
- Column selection / deselection
- X-axis assignment
- Hex display
- Numerical differences
- Moving averages
- Scroll position
Includes all the same items as the table view, plus:
| Menu item |
Description |
| Go to next different row |
Jumps to the next row where this column's values differ between the two files |
| Go to prev. different row |
Jumps to the previous differing row |
| Find max. difference row |
Jumps to the row with the largest absolute difference in this column |
Compare Graph
Both files are plotted together — left-file series use solid lines, right-file series use dashed lines with offset colors.
The Select dropdown in the graph header controls what is plotted:
| Option |
Plot |
| original |
Both L and R data as-is |
| L − R |
Per-column difference (left minus right) |
| R − L |
Per-column difference (right minus left) |
| |L − R| |
Absolute difference |
All graph interactions (zoom, pan, crosshair, FFT) work the same as in the single-file graph view.
Usage
Table View
- In the Explorer or Editor tab, right-click a supported file
- Select TableDataView: table view
Compare View
- In the Explorer, select two supported files (Ctrl/Cmd+click to multi-select)
- Right-click and select TableDataView: compare
Supported File Extensions
| Extension |
Typical delimiter |
.csv |
Comma |
.tsv |
Tab |
.txt |
Auto-detected |
.dat |
Auto-detected |
Requirements
- Visual Studio Code
^1.85.0
License
MIT
