Files and the cloud

datasight browse opens a file browser beside the table. Pick a file and it opens on the right. Pick another and it replaces the first. No need to quit and restart.

datasight browse                    # the current directory
datasight browse ~/data/exports     # a local folder
datasight browse az://my-container  # Azure Blob Storage
datasight browse s3://my-bucket     # Amazon S3

Getting around

Key	Does
`j` / `k`	Move through the list
`Enter` / `.`	Open the file, or go into the folder
`Esc`	Up to the parent folder
`Tab`	Switch between the list and the open file
`ctrl`+`e`	Hide or show the list, to give the table the full width
`/`	Find a file by name
`d`	Download the selected cloud file
`T`	Change theme
`q`	Quit

Once you Tab into an open table, every key from the rest of this manual works as usual.

Find a file

Press / and start typing. The letters only have to appear in order, so ordcsv finds orders.csv. Best matches come first, and the matching letters are highlighted.

Lowercase ignores case. One capital letter makes the whole search case-sensitive.
↑ / ↓ (or ctrl+p / ctrl+n) move through the matches.
Enter opens the highlighted match.
ctrl+u clears what you typed. Esc brings the full list back.

What opens where

Data files (.csv, .tsv, .parquet, .json, .ndjson, .jsonl) open as a table.
Binary files (images, archives, executables, PDFs and the like) are greyed out and won’t open.
Everything else (.txt, .md, .log, .yaml, files with no extension) opens in a plain text viewer.

The text viewer has its own small set of keys:

Key	Does
`j` / `k`, `PageDown` / `PageUp`	Scroll
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	Scroll sideways (when wrapping is off)
`w`	Wrap long lines on or off
`L`	Line numbers on or off
`/`, `n` / `N`	Search, next, previous

Download a cloud file

On a file in an az:// or s3:// listing, press d. You’ll be asked where to save it, with the file’s own name already filled in.

Type a folder ending in /, like ~/Downloads/, to keep the original name.
The full destination is shown as you type, with a warning if a file is already there.
Missing folders are created.
Enter saves and Esc cancels.

If a download fails, no half-written file is left behind. d does nothing on local files, since they’re already on your disk.

Cloud storage

Cloud support has to be built in. See Install. Then datasight logs in using environment variables.

Azure: either a connection string:

export AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=…;AccountKey=…"

or an account name and key:

export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME=myaccount
export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY=…

Amazon S3: the standard AWS variables:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=…
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=…
export AWS_REGION=eu-west-1

Cloud files are downloaded into memory when you open them. Nothing is written to disk unless you press d.