Glossary
One word per concept, in the interface, the help (?), these docs, the
command line, the config file and Python.
| Use | Not | Means |
|---|---|---|
| view (saved view) | template | A saved query, filters, sort, column layout and reshape, matched to files (v, V, --view, [views]) |
| query | search | SQL or q run on the command line |
| command line | query prompt, query bar | : at the table: a row number (row:), or a query (sql:, q:) |
| footer | control bar, bottom bar, status bar | The line under the thin rule at the bottom: what is in effect, the position, the mode’s keys and ? keys |
| find | search, locate | Move to a match without changing the rows: / (or f), n, N, find in the hex view and the inspector |
| filter | narrow, search | Keep only the matching rows: Sort & Filter (s), + - on a cell, a find kept with Ctrl+G, a query |
| narrow | filter | Shrink a picker or a list by typing: pickers, the home screen’s filter |
| search | find | On the home screen only: look below the current directory for files |
| catalog | collection, sources, remembered directory | A file of named datasets the home screen lists as a section: catalog.toml (yours; Ctrl+D adds to it), the files in catalogs/ and those catalogs lists, and the Example datasets |
| Example datasets | Public datasets, public catalog | The catalog that comes with datui, id examples: data its publishers host, read with no login. An examples.toml of your own replaces it |
| theme | color scheme | A named set of colors, one per slot: night-market, day-market, or a file in themes/; theme.dark and theme.light pick one per mode |
| bookmark | suggested place | A place inside a catalog dataset to start from: bookmarks."Name" = "path/" |
| documentation | codebook, data dictionary, column notes | What a catalog says of its dataset and its columns, or a format spec of its files: documentation, columns, a field’s description and unit; the details pane’s COLUMNS notes on the home screen, the Documentation view (Ctrl+E) and Info’s Documentation tab |
| Info (the Info panel) | Dataset Info | i: facts about the dataset |
| inspector | row inspector, detail | One row’s values (Space) |
| byte inspector | inspector | The hex view’s decoder of the bytes at the cursor |
| table | sheet, variant, split, topic, member, array | One table inside a file: --table, “3 tables” on the home screen |
| format spec | binary spec, spec file | A TOML file that describes a format (--format) |
| record type | table | One layout of a format spec’s records, a [[variants]] table in the spec: “2 types” on the home screen; --table NAME opens one |
| dictionary | dict, DBC file, FIX dictionary | Field or signal definitions a log is decoded with (--dict), in QuickFIX XML, DBC or TOML |
| home screen | browse files, start screen | Where datui with no path, q and Ctrl+O go |
| cloud source | cloud browser, remote | A store listed on the home screen. Remote only as an adjective for files not on this machine |
| recent | history | A dataset opened before. History is only the prompts’ history |
| sample | limit, row limit | The rows an analysis reads from a larger table |
| export / copy / save | To a file (e) / to the clipboard (y) / a view (s in the views list). Never “save” for an export | |
| Analysis | statistics, Statistical Analysis | a: Describe, Distribution, Correlation, Data Quality |
| value counts | count values, Value Count | F: how often each value of a column occurs |
| drill down (verb), drill-down (noun) | drill into | Open the rows behind a group’s row (Enter) |
| row | line | A row of the table; : and digits go to a row. Line only for raw text, as in --skip-lines |
How a file is read
The details pane, the Info panel’s Resources tab and the formats table name a read with these terms and no others:
| Term | Not | Means |
|---|---|---|
| lazy scan | lazy, streamed | Scanned where it is; only the rows shown, and what a query needs, are read |
| decompressed copy | converted once, unpacked | Decompressed whole to a temporary file of the same format, then scanned; removed on quit |
| converted to Arrow | converted once, cached | Read whole into a temporary Arrow IPC file, then scanned; removed on quit, not kept between sessions |
| in memory | loaded, eager | Read whole into memory before the table appears |
| download → | downloaded, then | A remote file copied to the temp directory first, then read as the term after the arrow says |
| schema | columns (for what a file declares) | The columns and their types. on open when only opening the file reads them, not read when nothing has looked yet |
Pane wording
A pane or status line is a label value pair: the value is a term or a
number, not a clause. The only free-standing line is a one-line callout behind
▲ (ASCII !) for something that will surprise, such as ▲ footer unreadable.
Why something is so belongs in these docs.