A code to make life easier for those who want to view the data with different delimiters in terminal, even with massive files.

view.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# This file is useful for those who work in data science. For those
# who want to view the data with different delimiters in terminal.
# for those who have massive datasets and need to view some first
# few lines.
#
# Author: Mehrad Mahmoudian
# Contact:
#    email: m[dot]mahmoudian[at]gmail[dot]com
#    twitter: @mmahmoudian
# Date: 2017.09.11 (yyyy.mm.dd)
# version: 1.2.0
#
# What this file do:
#    This file inspects the file extention and present the file in
#    propper format in terminal. For example it shows CSV files in 
#    eye-friendly and human readable format:
#      1 Year  month   Win8  Win7  Vista  NT*  WinXP  Linux  Mac   Mobile
#      2 2011  201101  0     31.1  8.6    1    45.3   5      7.8   0.7
#      3 2011  201102  0     32.2  8.3    1    44.2   5.1    8.1   0.7
#      4 2011  201103  0     34.1  7.9    0.9  42.9   5.1    8     0.7
#      5 2011  201104  0     35.9  7.6    0.9  40.9   5.1    8.3   0.8
#
# Usage:
#    You can use the shell as is:
#        sh view.sh mydata.csv
#
#    Add to alias:
#        add the following line to the end of your aliases:
#            alias view="sh path_to_your_shells/view.sh"
#        remember to substitute the path_to_your_shells with the correct
#        directory.
#

 

## initialize variables
FILE_VAL=''
OPEN_IN_CALC=FALSE
EDITABLE=FALSE
N_FIRST_ROWS=FALSE
SEPARATOR=''

## get the parameters
while getopts f:cen:h opts; do
    case ${opts} in
        h)
            echo "Options"
            echo "    -f    The file you want to view"
            echo "    -e    Open in terminal edit mode using vim or nano"
            echo "    -c    Open with LibreOffice Calc "
            echo "    -n    The n number of first lines to be viewed. This is useful for big files"
            ;;
        f)
            FILE_VAL=${OPTARG}
            ;;
        # if user wants to open in LibreOffice Calc
        c) 
            OPEN_IN_CALC=TRUE
            ;;
        # if user wants to open in an EDITABLE terminal environment
        e) 
            EDITABLE=TRUE
            ;;
        # number of n to show the first n number of lines
        n)
            N_FIRST_ROWS=${OPTARG}
            ;;
    esac
done


# if user has not defined any arguments and only has provided the file
if [ ${FILE_VAL} = '' ]; then
    FILE_VAL=${1}
fi


# check if the provided file exists
if [ ! -f ${FILE_VAL} ]; then
    echo "Such file does not exist!"
    exit
fi


# extract the file extention
EXTENTION=$(echo ${FILE_VAL} | rev | cut -d '.' -f 1 | rev | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

# check the file extention
if [ "${EXTENTION}" = "csv" ]; then
    SEPARATOR=','
elif [ "${EXTENTION}" = "tsv" ]; then
    SEPARATOR=' '
else
    echo ":!: File extention is unknown to this code and hence can not be processed!"
    read -p "Press [Enter] key to see few first lines of the file..."
    head ${FILE_VAL}
    read -p "What separator is in use?    " SEPARATOR
fi



# if user wants to open in LibreOffice Calc
if [ "${OPEN_IN_CALC}" = TRUE ]; then
    
    # if user has not defined how many lines he/she wants
    if [ "${N_FIRST_ROWS}" = FALSE ]; then
        # create a pipe
        cat ${FILE_VAL} > pipe
    else
        # create a pipe
        head -n ${N_FIRST_ROWS} ${FILE_VAL} > pipe
    fi

    # open the pipe in calc
    libreoffice --calc pipe
    
    # remove the created pipe
    rm pipe
    
# if user wants to open in an EDITABLE terminal environment
elif [ "${EDITABLE}" = TRUE ]; then

    # check if vim installed
    if type vim >/dev/null ; then
        
        # if it was tab or space separated, we don't need to define it for column command
        if [ "${SEPARATOR}" = ' ' ]; then
            column -t < ${FILE_VAL} | vim -
        else
            column -s ${SEPARATOR} -t < ${FILE_VAL} | vim -
        fi
        
    # check if nano installed
    elif type nano >/dev/null ; then

        # if not installed, open with less
        column -s ${SEPARATOR} -t < ${FILE_VAL} | less -#2 -N -S
    else
        (>&2 echo "Error: vim or nano are not installed! You can only view the file.")
        exit 0
    fi
    
# if user wans to open it as read only
else

    if [ "${SEPARATOR}" = '' ]; then
        less -#2 -N -S ${FILE_VAL}
    else
        column -s ${SEPARATOR} -t < ${FILE_VAL} | less -#2 -N -S
    fi
fi