tblcalc(1) - Table Calculator

tblcalc is a table calculation tool that applies formulas to CSV/TSV tables. Formulas can be embedded in the data file using special comment directives (e.g., #+TBLFM:) or placed in external files that are automatically discovered based on the data file's name. This functionality is inspired by Emacs Org-mode's table formulas and Miller scripts.

Formula Processing:

1. +TBLFM Directive - Applies table formulas specified in comment lines to CSV/TSV data files. Formulas use column references (e.g., $2, $3, $4) to perform calculations across table cells.

2. +MLR Directive - Applies Miller commands specified in comment lines to CSV/TSV data files. For more details on Miller's DSL, refer to the official Miller documentation.

3. Comment Preservation - Maintains all comment lines (lines starting with #) in their original positions while processing table data.

4. Format Support - Supports both CSV (Comma-Separated Values) and TSV (Tab-Separated Values) formats for input and output.

5. In-Place Editing - Allows direct file modification with the -i flag, preserving hard links.

Install via: go install github.com/knaka/tblcalc/cmd/tblcalc@latest

Basic commands:

• Process CSV file: tblcalc input.csv >output.csv
• In-place editing: tblcalc -i file.csv
• Force format: tblcalc --icsv --ocsv file.txt

Input file (test.csv):

# Product list
#
#+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3
#
"Product","Unit Price",Stock,Total
Apple,100,50,
Banana,80,30,
Orange,120,20,

After processing with tblcalc test.csv:

# Product list
#
#+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3
#
"Product","Unit Price",Stock,Total
Apple,100,50,5000
Banana,80,30,2400
Orange,120,20,2400

Input file (mlr-test1.csv):

# Product list
#
#+MLR: ${Total}=${Unit Price}*${Stock}
#+MLR: ${Total2}=${Unit Price}*${Stock}
#
Product,Unit Price,Stock,Total,Total2
Apple,100,50,,
"Banana ""Cavendish"", Premium",80,30,,
# Another comment
Orange,120,20,,

After processing with tblcalc mlr-test1.csv:

# Product list
#
#+MLR: ${Total}=${Unit Price}*${Stock}
#+MLR: ${Total2}=${Unit Price}*${Stock}
#
Product,Unit Price,Stock,Total,Total2
Apple,100,50,5000,5000
"Banana ""Cavendish"", Premium",80,30,2400,2400
# Another comment
Orange,120,20,2400,2400

tblcalc can automatically discover and apply external script files (.tblfm, .mlr) or skip processing (.skip) based on the input CSV/TSV file's name. This allows for cleaner data files and enables applying the same rules to multiple data files that follow a naming convention.

When processing an input file (e.g., testdata/ledger-2025-01.csv), tblcalc will search for these special files in the same directory using a pattern matching mechanism. For instance, tblcalc will look for files like testdata/ledger-%.csv.tblfm or testdata/ledger-2025-01.csv.skip. The % acts as a wildcard, matching any string.

• If a matching .skip file is found, tblcalc will perform no processing and simply output the original file content. This is useful for explicitly excluding certain files from calculations.
• If a matching .tblfm or .mlr file is found, its content is treated as if the directives (e.g., #+TBLFM:, #+MLR:) were embedded in the input data file itself.

Consider the following input data and an external tblfm file:

Input file (testdata/ledger-2025-01.csv):

Date,Description,Amount,Category
2025-01-01,Groceries at local store,-5000,Food
2025-01-05,Monthly Salary,300000,Income
# This is a sample ledger data for January 2025.
2025-01-20,Electricity Bill,-8000,Utilities
2025-01-25,Freelance Project Payment,50000,Income
2025-01-28,Internet Service,-6500,Utilities
TOTAL,,0,

External formula file (testdata/ledger-%.csv.tblfm):

@>${Amount}=vsum(@2..@>>)

After processing with tblcalc testdata/ledger-2025-01.csv:

Date,Description,Amount,Category
2025-01-01,Groceries at local store,-5000,Food
2025-01-05,Monthly Salary,300000,Income
# This is a sample ledger data for January 2025.
2025-01-20,Electricity Bill,-8000,Utilities
2025-01-25,Freelance Project Payment,50000,Income
2025-01-28,Internet Service,-6500,Utilities
TOTAL,,330500,

In this example, tblcalc automatically finds testdata/ledger-%.csv.tblfm because it matches the input filename pattern. The formula @>${Amount}=vsum(@2..@>>) is then applied, calculating the sum of the Amount column and placing it in the TOTAL row.

• -h, --help - Show help message
• -i, --in-place - Edit file(s) in-place
• -v, --verbose - Enable verbose output
• --icsv - Force CSV for input format
• --itsv - Force TSV for input format
• --ocsv - Force CSV for output format
• --otsv - Force TSV for output format

The +TBLFM directive uses Org-mode-style cell references:

• $2, $3, $4 - Column references (1-indexed)
• ${Header Name} - Column reference by header name (supports spaces)
• @2 - Row 2 (first data row after header)
• $> - Last column
• @> - Last row
• @>> - Second-to-last row
• @< - First row (including header)
• @2$3 - Cell at row 2, column 3
• Ranges: @<<$>..@>>$> (range notation using ..)

Instead of numeric column indices, you can reference columns by their header names using ${Header Name} syntax. This makes formulas more readable and resilient to column reordering.

Note: Org-mode's "named field" syntax (e.g., $name) is not supported. Instead, tblcalc uses the ${Header Name} syntax to directly reference columns by their header values.

Input file (prices.csv):

# Price calculation
#
#+TBLFM: @2${Total}..@>> = ${Unit Price} * ${Qty}
#+TBLFM: @2${Tax}..@>>=${Total}*0.1
#+TBLFM: @2${Grand Total}..@>> = ${Total} + ${Tax}
#+TBLFM: @>${Grand Total}=vsum(@2..@>>)
#
Product,Unit Price,Qty,Total,Tax,Grand Total
Apple,100,5,,,
Orange,150,3,,,
Banana,80,10,,,
TOTAL,,,,,

After processing with tblcalc prices.csv:

# Price calculation
#
#+TBLFM: @2${Total}..@>> = ${Unit Price} * ${Qty}
#+TBLFM: @2${Tax}..@>>=${Total}*0.1
#+TBLFM: @2${Grand Total}..@>> = ${Total} + ${Tax}
#+TBLFM: @>${Grand Total}=vsum(@2..@>>)
#
Product,Unit Price,Qty,Total,Tax,Grand Total
Apple,100,5,500,50,550
Orange,150,3,450,45,495
Banana,80,10,800,80,880
TOTAL,,,,,1925

Header name references can also be used in range expressions: vsum(${Q1}..${Q4})

Formulas are evaluated using Lua, providing flexible syntax for:

• Arithmetic operations: $2*$3, $2+$3-10
• String operations: String concatenation and manipulation
• Conditional expressions: $2 > 100 and $2*0.9 or $2
• All standard Lua built-in functions and libraries

Available aggregation functions for ranges:

• vsum(range) - Sum of values
• vmean(range) - Average of values
• vmedian(range) - Median of values
• vmax(range) - Maximum value
• vmin(range) - Minimum value

Example: vsum(@2$3..@>$3) calculates the sum of column 3 from row 2 to the last row.

Multiple formulas can be specified with:

• Multiple #+TBLFM: lines
• Separated by :: in a single line: #+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3::$5=$2+$3

Lua's string concatenation operator .. visually resembles the range operator ... To prevent confusion:

• Add spaces around concatenation: $2 .. " items"
• Use parentheses around cell references: ($2)..($3)

You can configure VSCode to automatically apply formulas when saving CSV/TSV files using the Run on Save extension.

Add this to your .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "emeraldwalk.runonsave": {
    "commands": [
      {
        "match": "\\.csv$",
        "cmd": "tblcalc -i ${file}"
      },
      {
        "match": "\\.tsv$",
        "cmd": "tblcalc -i ${file}"
      },
    ],
  },
}

This automatically processes files with +TBLFM directives whenever you save them.

If you use the Rainbow CSV extension for better CSV/TSV visualization, configure it to recognize comment lines:

{
  "rainbow_csv.comment_prefix": "#"
}

This ensures that comment lines (including +TBLFM directives) are properly displayed and not treated as data rows.

Released under the Apache 2.0 License.