Xan
Work with CSV data from the command line using xan, a CSV-focused toolkit.
About Xan
xan is an open-source command-line tool for processing CSV files directly from the shell. It is written in Rust, uses a SIMD CSV parser, and can parallelize some computations to work with large CSV files, from gigabytes to terabytes. It provides composable commands for previewing, filtering, slicing, aggregating, sorting, and joining CSV data, plus an expression language for more complex tasks. The project began as a fork of BurntSushi's xsv and was largely rewritten for SciencesPo's médialab use cases in web data collection and social-science analysis. It also handles CSV-adjacent formats and can convert to and from JSON, NDJSON, Excel, NumPy arrays, and Parquet.
Key features
- Process CSV files directly from the shell with chained commands
- Preview, filter, slice, aggregate, sort, and join CSV data
- Handle large files using a SIMD parser and optional multithreading
- Use an expression language for complex CSV transformations
- Convert between CSV and JSON, NDJSON, Excel, NumPy, and Parquet
- Display CSVs in the terminal and draw basic data visualizations
Best for: Data analysts, researchers, and engineers who work with large or messy tabular files and are comfortable using command-line tools.
Good for
- Open source and written in Rust for speed and low memory use
- Composable commands and an expression language cover many tabular processing tasks
- Includes support for CSV-adjacent formats and several conversion formats
Watch out for
- Command-line only; no graphical interface is described
- Primarily geared toward row-oriented tabular data
Xan at a glance
- Website
- github.com/medialab/xan
- Category
- Software & Utilities › Text Editors
- Type
- Open-source project
- Pricing
- Not confirmed. Check the site
- Open source
- Yes · Source code
- Language
- English
- Last checked
- Oct 6, 2026 · Online when checked
- Listed
- Oct 5, 2026
Guides for Text Editors
Xan alternatives
Tools and sites you could use instead, ranked by how closely they match.
Use qsv from the command line to inspect, transform, and work with CSV and other tabular data.
Convert images to ASCII or Braille art from the command line with this cross-platform tool.
Open source
24 alternatives
Read Markdown files in the command line with Glow, which renders the formatted document in the terminal.
Open source
24 alternatives
Tad provides a desktop interface for viewing and analyzing tabular data files.
Open source
24 alternatives
Explore tabular data with VisiData, an interactive command-line multitool that combines spreadsheet-like clarity with terminal and Python workflows.
This local-first web office edits Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in the browser using WebAssembly.
Open source
24 alternativesPopular in Text Editors
Well-known listings from the same topic.
Google Docsgoogle.com/docs/aboutProton Docsproton.me/drive/docsVertex42vertex42.comdDocsdocs.fileverse.ioNotepad++notepad-plus-plus.orgLibreOfficelibreoffice.org
Xan FAQ
What file formats can xan process?
It primarily processes CSV and CSV-adjacent formats such as .cdx, .vcf, .gtf, .sam, and .bed, and can convert to and from JSON, NDJSON, Excel, NumPy arrays, and Parquet.
How does xan handle large CSV files?
It uses a SIMD CSV parser and can parallelize some computations through multithreading; the documentation says it can handle files from gigabytes to terabytes.
Is xan a fork of another tool?
It was originally a fork of BurntSushi's xsv but has been nearly entirely rewritten for SciencesPo's médialab use cases.
Is something wrong or out of date?
Tell us and an editor will check it.
Own this website?
Claim this listing
Claim the listing and suggest updates yourself. An editor checks every claim first.