File Viewers and Pagers for the Terminal
A terminal pager shows a file one screen at a time with scrolling and search, in the tradition of the more and less commands.
Viewers take that idea per format: highlighted source, JSON and YAML trees, CSV and Parquet tables, Markdown, log files, man pages, hex dumps and images redrawn in text. A file opens read only, which makes them quick to run in a pipeline or over an SSH session on a server with nothing else installed.
Tools that change a file are elsewhere: prose and code under text editors, binaries under hex editors, and books under ebook readers.
Below is a list of terminal tools for viewing files.
bat
A cat(1) clone with wings.
A cat(1) clone with wings.
bookokrat
A terminal EPUB / PDF ebook reader.
A terminal EPUB / PDF ebook reader.
csvlens
a csv viewer like less but made for csv.
a csv viewer like less but made for csv.
doxx
A viewer for Microsoft Word .docx files in the terminal.
A viewer for Microsoft Word .docx files in the terminal.
fat
A modern, TUI file and archive viewer for your terminal.
A modern, TUI file and archive viewer for your terminal.
fblog
Small command-line JSON Log viewer.
Small command-line JSON Log viewer.
frogmouth
A Markdown browser for your terminal
A Markdown browser for your terminal
fx
command-line tool and terminal JSON viewer.
command-line tool and terminal JSON viewer.
glow
Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz!
Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz!
har-viewer
A terminal UI for inspecting HAR (HTTP Archive) files.
A terminal UI for inspecting HAR (HTTP Archive) files.
hdf5_ui
A TUI for inspection of HDF5 files.
A TUI for inspection of HDF5 files.
hevi
A hex viewer.
A hex viewer.
hexyl
A rust based command-line hex viewer
A rust based command-line hex viewer
hike
A Markdown browser for the terminal.
A Markdown browser for the terminal.
hl
A fast and powerful log viewer and processor.
A fast and powerful log viewer and processor.
hygg
Minimalistic Vim-like TUI document reader.
Minimalistic Vim-like TUI document reader.
jless
A command-line JSON viewer.
A command-line JSON viewer.
leaf
A terminal-based Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience.
A terminal-based Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience.
lnav
An ncurses-based log file viewer for the terminal.
An ncurses-based log file viewer for the terminal.
lue
A TUI ebook reader with Text-to-Speech (TTS).
A TUI ebook reader with Text-to-Speech (TTS).
mandown
man-page inspired Markdown viewer.
man-page inspired Markdown viewer.
manly
A TUI for viewing man pages in the terminal.
A TUI for viewing man pages in the terminal.
mcat
Parse, convert & preview images, videos & markdown in your terminal.
Parse, convert & preview images, videos & markdown in your terminal.
mdcat
fancy cat for markdown
fancy cat for markdown
mdfried
A markdown viewer for the terminal that renders images and Big Headers™.
A markdown viewer for the terminal that renders images and Big Headers™.
moar
the nice pager, designed to just do the right thing without any configuration.
the nice pager, designed to just do the right thing without any configuration.
nless
Excel for your logs. Pipe in anything, wrangle it into columns.
Excel for your logs. Pipe in anything, wrangle it into columns.
oq
A terminal-based OpenAPI Spec (OAS) viewer.
A terminal-based OpenAPI Spec (OAS) viewer.
otree
A tool to view objects (JSON/YAML/TOML) in a TUI tree widget.
A tool to view objects (JSON/YAML/TOML) in a TUI tree widget.
ov
A feature rich terminal-based pager.
A feature rich terminal-based pager.
parqeye
Peek inside Parquet files right from your terminal.
Peek inside Parquet files right from your terminal.
parqv
A TUI for visualizing and analyzing files with multiple formats.
A TUI for visualizing and analyzing files with multiple formats.
peplum
The TUI PEP lookup manager for your terminal.
The TUI PEP lookup manager for your terminal.
pqviewer
View Apache Parquet Files In Your Terminal.
View Apache Parquet Files In Your Terminal.
pspg
A UNIX pager optimized for tabular data.
A UNIX pager optimized for tabular data.
qman
A full-featured man page viewer for our terminals.
A full-featured man page viewer for our terminals.
reader
Readability for the command line.
Readability for the command line.
rfc_reader
An RFC viewer with TUI.
An RFC viewer with TUI.
tabiew
A lightweight TUI application to view and query tabular data files.
A lightweight TUI application to view and query tabular data files.
toolong
A terminal application to view, tail, merge, and search log files (plus JSONL).
A terminal application to view, tail, merge, and search log files (plus JSONL).
treemd
A TUI and CLI dual pane markdown viewer
A TUI and CLI dual pane markdown viewer
twig
A high-performance terminal UI for exploring JSON and YAML files interactively.
A high-performance terminal UI for exploring JSON and YAML files interactively.
w3m
A pager and/or text-based browser.
A pager and/or text-based browser.
xleak
Expose Excel files in your terminal, no Microsoft Excel required.
Expose Excel files in your terminal, no Microsoft Excel required.
Know any terminal tools that would be good for this list? Post a Tool here!
