sc-im
sc-im short for Spreadsheet Calculator — Improved is a terminal-based spreadsheet and calculator with vim-like key bindings. The program is fairly advanced and capable spreadsheet application with most of the features modern spreadsheet users have come to expect in GUI-based spreadsheet applications. Additionally, sc-im can be used non-interactively as a simple calculator tool somewhat like bc.
Development of the original program, then called sc, began in 1981 but stalled sometime in 2002. Around 2015 a group of sc enthusiasts decided to resume development under the name sc-im. In late 2022 the maintained package app-office/sc-im fork was migrated from GURU to the main Gentoo package repository and the unmaintained app-office/sc was removed from the tree via bug #877051.
sc-im has a number of use-cases. It can be used non-interactively as a filter to translate incompatible spreadsheets to the text-based .sc format. It is also popular among Mutt users who wish to have a way to view spreadsheets attached to emails without exiting the terminal.
Supported File Formats
The following file formats can be imported or exported:
- Spreadsheet Calculator .sc files.
- Comma Seperated Values .csv files.
- Tab Separated Values .tsv files.
- Markdown Table .md files.
- Plain Text .txt files.
The following formats are supported, but only as import filters:
- LibreOffice OpenDocument Spreadsheet .ods files.
- Legacy Microsoft Excel .xls files.
- Microsoft Office Open XML .xlsx files.
Installation
USE flags
USE flags for app-office/sc-im Ncurses based, vim-like spreadsheet calculator
X
|
Use x11-misc/xclip for clipboard copy/paste |
lua
|
Enable Lua scripting support |
ods
|
Add ods import support |
plots
|
Add sci-visualization/gnuplot for plotting support |
tmux
|
Use app-misc/tmux for clipboard copy/paste |
wayland
|
Use gui-apps/wl-clipboard for clipboard copy/paste |
xls
|
Add xls support |
xlsx
|
Add xlsx support |
Emerge
root #emerge --ask app-office/sc-imConfiguration
Files
- $HOME/.config/sc-im/scimrc — Per-user configuration file.
Usage
The sc-im spreadsheet editor is closely modeled after vim text editor. The program has several different modes:
- Normal Mode: where cell navigation occurs.
- Insert Mode: where new values are entered into cells.
- Edit Mode: to modify existing cells.
- Command Mode: For entering commands to modify application settings.
- Visual Mode: For selecting ranges of cells in a visually intuitive manner.
Basic navigation is performed with keys on a QWERTY keyboard's home row. As a result H moves the cursor up one cell, J moves the cursor down one cell, K moves the cursor right one cell, and the L moves the cursor right one cell. That said, the ←, ↑, →, and the ↓ cursor keys work as expected. The PgUp and PgDn key works the same way it does with the less or more screen pagers.
Like vim, sc-im has an extensive internal help system that can be accessed in the following manner:
:helpInvocation
user $sc-im --helpSC-IM - SC Improved
Usage: sc-im [arguments] [file] specified file
or: sc-im [arguments] - read text from stdin
Arguments:
--autocalc Set variable 'autocalc'.
--copy_to_clipboard_delimited_tab Set variable 'copy_to_clipboard_delimited_tab'
--debug Set variable 'debug'
--default_copy_to_clipboard_cmd=COMMAND set variable 'default_copy_from_clipboard_cmd'
--default_paste_from_clipboard_cmd=COMMAND set variable 'default_paste_from_clipboard_cmd'
--default_open_file_under_cursor_cmd=COMMAND set variable 'default_open_file_under_cursor_cmd'
--export_csv Export to csv without interaction
--export_tab Export to tab without interaction
--export_txt Export to txt without interaction
--export_mkd Export to markdown without interaction
--external_functions Set variable 'external_functions'
--half_page_scroll Set variable 'half_page_scroll'
--ignorecase Set variable 'ignorecase'
--import_delimited_as_text Import text as
--newline_action={j or l} Set variable 'newline_action'
--nocurses Run interactive but without ncurses interface.
--numeric Set variable 'numeric'
--numeric_decimal Set variable 'numeric_decimal'
--output=FILE Save the results in FILE
--overlap Set variable 'overlap variable'
--quit_afterload Quit after loading all the files
--show_cursor Make the screen cursor follow the active cell
--tm_gmtoff={seconds} set gmt offset used for converting datetimes to localtime.
--txtdelim={"," or ";" or "\t" or "|"} Sets delimiter when opening a .tab of .csv file
--version Print version information and exit
--help Print Help (this message) and exit
Troubleshooting
Issues loading spreadsheets larger that 65,536 rows
By default sc-im limits its spreadsheets to 65,536 rows. This was a sane limit when the software was first released but as time passed spreadsheets began to be treated as "poor man's databases" and have grown ever larger. Eventually a compile-time option was added to raise this figure to a new maximum of 1,048,576 rows. Starting with sc-im-0.8.3-r1 the compile time option of 1,048,576 rows is set. If you're having issues opening large spreadsheets upgrade to at least that version.
Currently, sc-im is limited to a maximum 702 columns.
Converting between spreadsheet formats non-interactively
It's possible to use sc-im to convert between spreadsheet file formats. In fact, this is a popular use of the program. Assuming you're trying to convert a modern Microsoft Excel .xlsx file to .csv the command would look something like this:
user $sc-im --nocurses --export_csv --quit_afterload infile.xlsx > outfile.csvOther options are possible, but at this time only .csv, .tsv, .txt, and .md files have output filters.
Unmerge
root #emerge --ask --depclean --verbose app-office/sc-imSee also
- bc — arbitrary-precision fixed-point mathematical scripting language