VisiData In 60 Seconds¶
TL;DR? Here’s a three-step introduction to VisiData.
Step 1: Use vd to open a data file¶
Download faa-wildlife-strikes.csv, a dataset of all aircraft-wildlife collisions reported to the Federal Aviation Administration between 2010 and mid-2016.
From your terminal, move into the directory where you downloaded the dataset. Then run the following command:
vd faa-wildlife-strikes.csv
If it worked, you should see something like this:
File Edit View Column Row Data Plot System Help | VisiData 3.0.2 | Alt+H for help men OPERATOR │ ATYPE │ INCIDENT_DATE │ STATE │ AIRPORT │ PHASE_OF_FLT> BUSINESS │ PA-28 │ 05/22/15 00:00:00 │ FL │ VERO BEACH MUNICIP…│ APPROACH │ BUSINESS │ BE-1900 │ 06/18/15 00:00:00 │ AK │ KENAI MUNICIPAL AR…│ APPROACH │ BUSINESS │ PA-46 MALIBU │ 09/20/15 00:00:00 │ TX │ DAVID WAYNE HOOKS …│ │ DELTA AIR LINES │ B-717-200 │ 11/07/15 00:00:00 │ MO │ LAMBERT-ST LOUIS I…│ APPROACH │ BUSINESS │ BE-90 KING │ 12/17/15 00:00:00 │ FL │ POMPANO BEACH AIRP…│ LANDING ROLL │ DELTA AIR LINES │ B-757 │ 07/17/15 00:00:00 │ VI │ HENRY E ROHLSEN AR…│ │ DELTA AIR LINES │ B-717-200 │ 08/02/15 00:00:00 │ TX │ SAN ANTONIO INTL │ APPROACH │ BUSINESS │ C-414 │ 08/03/15 00:00:00 │ TX │ LONE STAR EXECUTIV…│ DEPARTURE │ ALLEGIANT AIR │ MD-80 │ 09/02/15 00:00:00 │ FL │ TAMPA INTL │ APPROACH │ TRANS STATES AIRLI…│ EMB-145 │ 09/07/15 00:00:00 │ MO │ LAMBERT-ST LOUIS I…│ APPROACH │ BUSINESS │ C-172 │ 11/28/15 00:00:00 │ FL │ OPA-LOCKA EXECUTIV…│ APPROACH │ GOVERNMENT │ EC120 │ 12/08/15 00:00:00 │ CA │ NORMAN Y. MINETA S…│ │ AMERICAN AIRLINES │ A-321 │ 05/06/15 00:00:00 │ FL │ FORT LAUDERDALE/HO…│ APPROACH │ EXPRESSJET AIRLINES│ CRJ100/200 │ 05/06/15 00:00:00 │ AR │ FORT SMITH REGIONA…│ CLIMB │ MESA AIRLINES │ CRJ900 │ 05/08/15 00:00:00 │ AR │ BILL AND HILLARY …│ LANDING ROLL │ BUSINESS │ HELICOPTER │ 05/06/15 00:0┌──────────────────────────────────| statuses |─┐│ DELTA AIR LINES │ A-320 │ 05/07/15 00:0│ saul.pw/VisiData v3.0.2 ││ DELTA AIR LINES │ A-320 │ 05/08/15 00:0│ opening datasets/faa-wildlife-strikes.csv as ││ LUFTHANSA │ A-380 │ 05/10/15 00:0│ csv ││ BUSINESS │ C-172 │ 05/08/15 00:0│ As if I would talk on such a subject! ││ SPIRIT AIRLINES │ A-319 │ 05/10/15 00:0└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘│ 1› faa-wildlife-strikes| 73448 rows
Step 2: Test-drive a frequency table¶
One of VisiData’s strengths is how quickly it lets you summarize your data. Frequency tables are a great example. To create one, press Shift+F.
If it worked, you should see something like this:
File Edit View Column Row Data Plot System Help | VisiData 3.0.2 | Alt+H for help men OPERATOR ║↓count♯│ percent%│ histogram ~║ UNKNOWN ║ 23076 │ 31.42 │ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ║ SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ║ 7752 │ 10.55 │ ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ║ BUSINESS ║ 5868 │ 7.99 │ ■■■■■■■■■ ║ AMERICAN AIRLINES ║ 4337 │ 5.90 │ ■■■■■■■ ║ DELTA AIR LINES ║ 2817 │ 3.84 │ ■■■■ ║ FEDEX EXPRESS ║ 2709 │ 3.69 │ ■■■■ ║ UNITED AIRLINES ║ 2194 │ 2.99 │ ■■■ ║ US AIRWAYS ║ 1885 │ 2.57 │ ■■■ ║ UPS AIRLINES ║ 1773 │ 2.41 │ ■■ ║ SKYWEST AIRLINES ║ 1769 │ 2.41 │ ■■ ║ JETBLUE AIRWAYS ║ 1740 │ 2.37 │ ■■ ║ EXPRESSJET AIRLINES║ 1347 │ 1.83 │ ■■ ║ AMERICAN EAGLE AIR…║ 1041 │ 1.42 │ ■ ║ ENVOY AIR ║ 883 │ 1.20 │ ■ ║ ALASKA AIRLINES ║ 835 │ 1.14 │ ■ ║ REPUBLIC AIRLINES ║ 804 │ 1.09 │ ■ ║ MESA AIRLINES ║ 693 │ 0.94 │ ■ ║ AIR WISCONSIN AIRL…║ 623 │ 0.85 │ ■ ║ PSA AIRLINES ║ 577 │ 0.79 │ ║ PRIVATELY OWNED ║ 516 │ 0.70 │ ║ PHI INC ║ 491 │ 0.67 │ ║ 2› faa-wildlife-strikes_OPERATOR_freq| Shift+F 282 bins