A VSCode extension that uses the inlay hints to render csvs as columns.

Tip: We recommend that this is used with the rainbow csv extension, which will color the columns.

A CSV like this:

grant,murphy,whaddup,1234,dog
d-train,mochi,hi,1,kitten

Would be rendered like this:

grant  ,murphy,whaddup,1234,dog
d-train,mochi ,hi     ,1   ,kitten

Features

Deleting Columns

To Do / Known Issues

• The GH Issues
• Separators other than commas, and .tsv files, should work as of 0.3.0 (see issue 3). If you hit a delimiter that still doesn't align, please file an issue.
• If the CSV appears to render poorly like shown in this issue, please put the following into your user settings JSON config.

"[csv]": {
  "editor.inlayHints.maximumLength": 0
}

• If you have that setting in place and a very wide CSV (roughly 35+ columns) still loses its hints on every row below the first screenful, that's a different problem and the setting won't help. VS Code stops drawing after 1500 inlay hints, and a wide file needs more than that for one screen. There's no workaround from your side yet; see "Why wide files lose their hints" in CONTRIBUTING.md for the details.

Release Notes

0.4.0

• Column widths are now based on the whole file instead of the rows near your viewport, so a column keeps the same width no matter where you scroll. This reverses the width behavior from 0.3.2, where widths shifted as you scrolled.
• Widths now shrink back down after you delete a long value, instead of staying wide.
• The delimiter is detected once per file from a sample of the first lines, rather than by parsing the entire file (which was most of the cost on large CSVs) and rather than being re-guessed for each screenful.
• Big files use much less memory. The width scan no longer builds a table of every cell in the document, so wide files that previously could exhaust memory now scan in a fraction of a second.
• Widths are cached per file and recomputed only when you edit, so scrolling doesn't rescan.
• Known limitation, unchanged by this release: on very wide CSVs (roughly 35+ columns) the rows below the first screenful lose their hints entirely. VS Code silently stops drawing after 1500 inlay hints. See "Why wide files lose their hints" in CONTRIBUTING.md, and issue 5.

0.3.2

• Fixed hint calculation so it only parses the visible window (plus a buffer) instead of everything from the top of the file down. Scrolling deep into a large CSV no longer gets slower the further you go.
• Column widths are now based on the rows near your viewport, so they can shift as you scroll rather than only ever growing.

0.3.1

• mistyped a version number

0.3.0

• I believe it works for other delimiters and .tsv files now

0.2.0

• It works for bigger files now

0.1.1

• Added a gif and features section to the readme.

0.1.0

Solved top issue, we think it's working with commas in cell values now.

It doesn't seem to handle different separators very well. That's in progress.

0.0.9

Experimenting with CICD in github.

0.0.8

VSCode was updated and the default inlay hint truncation was removed

0.0.7

Enhanced README

0.0.6

Lol put in an icon.

0.0.5

Learned that VSCode October 2024 release fixes the inlay hint truncation. See VSCode issue 205708.

Contributors

• Big thanks to Noé SELLAM for filing the first issue!!

Support

If you like CSV Aligner, please consider paying it forward by taking a pledge at Giving What We Can or donating to GiveWell.

Or you support the project directly at PayPal 😄