CLI Tool

cmd-table includes a standalone CLI for formatting data directly in the terminal.

Installation

The CLI is included with the package — no extra install needed:

# Via npx (no install)
echo '[{"name":"Alice"}]' | npx cmd-table

# Or install globally
npm install -g cmd-table
cat data.json | cmd-table

Usage

cat <file> | cmd-table [options]

Pipe JSON or CSV data into cmd-table and it renders a formatted table instantly.

Options

Flag	Description	Example
--columns	Comma-separated list of columns to display	--columns=name,age,city
--theme	Built-in theme name	--theme=double
--format	Input format: json or csv (auto-detected if omitted)	--format=csv
--interactive	Launch interactive TUI mode	--interactive
--help	Show help	--help

Examples

Format JSON

# Simple JSON array
echo '[{"name":"Alice","age":30},{"name":"Bob","age":25}]' | npx cmd-table

Output:

╭───────┬─────╮
│ name  │ age │
├───────┼─────┤
│ Alice │ 30  │
│ Bob   │ 25  │
╰───────┴─────╯

Format CSV

CSV is auto-detected — no need to specify --format:

echo "name,age,city
Alice,30,NYC
Bob,25,LA" | npx cmd-table

Select Specific Columns

cat employees.json | npx cmd-table --columns=name,department,salary

Apply a Theme

cat data.json | npx cmd-table --theme=double

Interactive Mode

Launch the full TUI with search, pagination, and sorting:

cat large_dataset.csv | npx cmd-table --interactive

TIP

Interactive mode is perfect for exploring CSV exports, log files, or API responses directly in the terminal.

Auto-Detection

The CLI automatically detects whether input is JSON or CSV:

• JSON: Starts with [ or {
• CSV: Contains commas/tabs and newlines

You can override with --format=json or --format=csv if auto-detection gets it wrong.

Real-World Examples

Explore a JSON API

curl -s https://api.example.com/users | npx cmd-table --interactive

Format a CSV Report

cat monthly_sales.csv | npx cmd-table --columns=product,revenue,units --theme=bold

Pipeline with jq

cat complex.json | jq '.data.items' | npx cmd-table