CLI: tabalyst inspect

tabalyst inspect INPUT... [OPTIONS]

Reads JSON, JSONL, NDJSON or Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm) files once and writes an Inspect file, <source>-inspect.json, beside each source. The file lists the collections or tables it found, says which one it selects and why, and holds the config section you can edit. CSV files, and the spreadsheet formats .xls, .xlsb and .ods, are refused with exit code 2. See Inspect JSON files and Inspect Excel workbooks.

Options

Option	Description
INPUT...	One or more JSON, JSONL, NDJSON or Excel files, or non-recursive glob patterns (required)
-c, --config PATH	JSON configuration file whose scan section seeds a new Inspect file; repeat to merge several, in order
--reset-config	Replace the config of an existing Inspect file by the detected one
-f, --force	Replace an existing Inspect file that cannot be kept
-q, --quiet	Suppress success messages; warnings and the commands to choose from remain
-v, --verbose	List every candidate collection, sheet or table, with its size and why it is not eligible
--no-progress	Disable the progress line
--help	Show the options and exit

An existing Inspect file keeps its config when you inspect again. Inspect has no -o or -d: the file always goes beside its source.

Examples

A workbook with one clear table

tabalyst inspect sales.xlsx -v

Inspect: D:\work\sales.xlsx-inspect.json
Selection: $.Orders (much larger than $.Regions)
Format: excel
Candidates: 3
  $.Orders (120 elements)
  $.Regions (5 elements)
  $.Notes (0 elements, no_header)
Warning [sales.xlsx]: $.Notes has no header row that Tabalyst can recognize.

tabalyst report sales.xlsx needs no choice.

Several tables: the commands to copy

tabalyst inspect shop.xlsx

Inspect: D:\work\shop.xlsx-inspect.json
Selection: none (several collections are equally plausible)
Warning [shop.xlsx]: 2 tables are equally plausible: $.Costs (40), $["Sales Q1"] (50). None was selected: set config.structure.dataset_path to the one to analyze.
Choose the table to analyze:
  tabalyst report shop.xlsx --collection Costs
  tabalyst report shop.xlsx --collection '$["Sales Q1"]'
Or report every table: tabalyst report shop.xlsx --all-collections

Copy a line to run it. The short form (Costs) is used whenever the name is plain, and the quoted path otherwise. A JSON file works the same way:

tabalyst inspect shop.json

Choose the collection to analyze:
  tabalyst report shop.json --collection customers
  tabalyst report shop.json --collection orders
Or report every collection: tabalyst report shop.json --all-collections

Several files, other settings

tabalyst inspect "exports/*.xlsx" "logs/*.jsonl"
tabalyst inspect shop.json --config settings.json
tabalyst inspect shop.json --reset-config

Exit codes

Code	When
0	Every Inspect file was written, even when no collection could be selected
2	Invalid options, a source Inspect does not read, or an invalid Inspect file
4	A source is missing, unreadable or invalid