behavior/documentation mismatch of `concat` join?
Author: weichmCreated Aug 21, 2026Updated Aug 21, 2026
Labelsbug
Small description
In VisiData 3.4, the behavior of the concat join seems inconsistent with its documented semantics.
(But maybe I understand the functionality of concat wrong).
The documentation describes:
append: all rows from all sheets; columns from all sheetsconcat: all rows from all sheets; columns and type from first sheet
However, concat appears to union columns by name from all input sheets, just like append.
At the same time, VisiData 3.4 requires all sheets used with concat to have the same number of visible columns.
I do not know if this is connected to:
Data to reproduce
$ vd --version
saul.pw/VisiData v3.4
cat > A.csv <<'EOF'
a,b,c
1,2,3
EOF
cat > B.csv <<'EOF'
x,y,z
4,5,6
EOFBoth sheets have three columns, but none of the column names match.
Steps to reproduce
- Open both files:
vd a.csv b.csv - Open the Sheets sheet with
Shift+S. - Select both sheets.
- Run
&. Chooseconcat.
Expected result
a,b,c
1,2,3
4,5,6Actual result with screenshot
a b c x y z
1 2 3
4 5 6This is the same result that append would yield.
Source: saulpw/visidata