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 |
| Shift + ← / → |
While the graph is open, steps the crosshair to the previous / next row where the last selected column's value changes (same as Find prev./next change) |
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, including resetting scale to 1.0 and offset to 0.0. Shown when hex, diff, moving average, scale, or offset is active. |
| Find prev. change |
Scrolls to the previous row where this column's value changes. |
| 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. |
| Go to prev. NaN |
Scrolls to the previous row whose value is not a finite number (NaN, empty, Infinity), wrapping around at the top. Shown only when the column has both numbers and NaNs. |
| Go to next NaN |
Same, searching downwards. |
At the bottom of the menu, column statistics are displayed (non-clickable):
- max, min, max−min, mean, and the NaN count of the currently displayed values
| Button |
Description |
| Top / Bottom / Left / Right |
Navigate to the edges of the table |
| Scale |
Toggles a Scale row under the header, one editable cell per column (default 1.0) |
| Offset |
Toggles an Offset row under the Scale row (default 0.0) |
| Show Graph |
Opens the graph panel for the selected columns |
| Reset All |
Resets X-axis, hex, diff, moving average, scale, and offset for all columns. Shown only when any transform is active. |
| Reload |
Reloads the file from disk, preserving current scroll position and transforms |
Scale and Offset
Click Scale or Offset in the toolbar to add an editable row directly under the header
(Scale first, then Offset). Type a value into any column's cell and press Enter: the table and
the graph then show value x scale + offset, and the adjusted column is highlighted in purple.
Values start at 1.0 / 0.0, and hiding a row resets that factor for every column.
Scale and offset stack on top of the diff / moving-average transforms and are preserved by
Reload. In compare view, editing one side also updates the matched column on the other side.
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 /
. / o) — defaults to .
- 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
- Scale / offset
- Hex display
- Numerical differences
- Moving averages
- Scroll position
Includes the same items as the table view (except Find prev./next change), 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
With only one file selected, the same menu item opens a file picker — starting in that file's own folder — to choose the file for the left pane; the file you right-clicked becomes the right pane.
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
