csview.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import csv
import sys

def main():

    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print "Usage: %s csv_file" % sys.argv[0]
        exit(1)
    infile = open(sys.argv[1], 'rb')
    dialect = csv.Sniffer().sniff(infile.readline())
    infile.seek(0)
    reader = csv.reader(infile, dialect)

    # Calculate lengths.
    cell_lengths = []
    for lind, line in enumerate(reader):
        # Set up the cell_lengths list
        if lind == 0:
            cell_lengths = [0] * len(line)
        elif len(line) > len(cell_lengths):
            while len(line) > len(cell_lengths):
                cell_lengths.append(0)

        for index, cell in enumerate(line):
            if cell_lengths[index] < len(cell):
                cell_lengths[index] = len(cell)
            else:
                cell_lengths.append(len(cell))

    # Display the file
    infile.seek(0)
    for line in reader:
        oline = ""
        for index, cell in enumerate(line):
            oline += cell.ljust(cell_lengths[index] + 1, ' ')

        print oline

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()