tblx-py¹

Unicode CLI CSV previewer in Python

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Dependencies

• python3

No dependencies are required for installation on Windows.

Usage

See man tblx for an in-depth description of the script's behaviour. For a quick list of available options, call tblx by itself.

Piping the result into a pager such as less (or more on DOS) is heavily recommended. Alternatively, one may simply choose to save the returned preview into a file.

Note

The manpage has not been written as of yet.

Installation

Supplying the script with the --install flag will trigger an OS dependant installation sequence.

Beware, as changing the path to a directory that is not already part of your system's PATH variable will forcefully add the bin/ directory of the provided path to it, in order for the script to be callable nonetheless.

No matter how and most importantly where you choose to install the script, so long as its bin/ entry resides in the PATH, the script will be accessible.

Windows

It is recommended to copy the build into either its own subfolder entry in %programfiles%, or in a local folder such as %userprofile%\.bin\. Alternatively, one may make use of the aforementioned --install flag for an automatic installation.

POSIX (Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc)

Either invoke the script with the --install flag, or simply copy the python file to /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin/. The former is likely to be preferred.

There is no explicit need to compile anything, as it will automatically call your local python installation, assuming it is installed, and that it supports all the features the script makes use of. As such, unless your python installation is regularly updated (ideally >=3.9), you will likely want to compile the file, or use one of the precompiled releases.

Warning

Precompiled releases will not be compatible with platforms other than Windows, Linux and FreeBSD; and architecture other than x86-64.

Compile yourself

The compilation process is fairly straightforward due to its lack of particular requirements. As for any other standard python script, any "compiler" (bundler) may be used.

Tip

Prefer PyInstaller, as it is the one precompiled binaries are released thanks to. On POSIX systems, we recommend the use of the system package manager or pipx over pip to install pyinstaller.

[!INFORMATION] The compiled binaries will be generated in tblx-py/dist/.

Windows

git clone https://codeberg.org/tblx/tblx-py
cd tblx-py\
pyinstaller src\tblx.py -F --add-data="data;data"

POSIX (Linux, BSD, MacOS, etc)

Caution

The Makefile is not functional yet. Do not use those commands yet.

git clone https://codeberg.org/tblx/tblx-py
cd tblx-py
make run

If you want to install it on your system:

make install

If you don't want to use make:

pyinstaller src/tblx.py -F --add-data="data;data"

Footnotes

1. Pronounced /tblks/. Yes, we know. ↩