# xsv

6 Hacker News commenters recommended xsv and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend xsv as a fast command-line tool for working through very large CSV files.

## Why people recommend it

- Handles massive CSV files well (1 comments): "It's an incredible piece of software for breaking down massive CSV files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47507278))
- Lets users plow through data (1 comments): "I just could plow through everything using it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391436))
- Long-trusted, a revelation at release (1 comments): "xsv was a revelation when it came out 10 years ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46402409))
- Author's projects have a quiet sensibility (1 comments): "Burntsushi projects have certain quiet sensibility that I appreciate." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48308651))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [fzf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fzf.md): 78 recommend
- [jq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jq.md): 75 recommend
- [grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grep.md): 65 recommend
- [Atuin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atuin.md): 63 recommend
- [GitHub CLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-cli.md): 49 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "xsv", https://hackerapproved.com/p/xsv/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).