fastontab

fastontab is a command-line utility primarily used on Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux and macOS. Its core function is to facilitate the management and manipulation of tab-separated value (TSV) files. TSV files are plain text files where data is organized into rows and columns, with each column separated by a tab character. fastontab provides a streamlined approach to querying, filtering, and transforming data within these files without the need for more complex scripting languages or database systems for simpler tasks.

The utility offers a syntax that allows users to specify conditions for selecting rows and to define which columns to output. This makes it particularly useful for quick data exploration and extraction from tabular data. Users can often specify filters based on column values, perform simple calculations, or reorder columns. Its design prioritizes speed and efficiency, especially when dealing with large TSV datasets, hence the "fast" in its name. fastontab is generally invoked from a terminal, taking the input TSV file as an argument and accepting various command-line options to define the desired operations. It is often favored by system administrators and data analysts for its direct and efficient handling of TSV data.