Adding and Deleting Rows

These commands change which rows exist in the sheet — adding new ones, deleting unwanted ones, and undoing mistakes.

Learning Focus

Use a to add one blank row, ga N to add many. Use d to delete one row, gd to delete all selected. Always press U to undo if you make a mistake.

warning

gd (delete all selected rows) has no confirmation dialog unless options.quitguard = True. Enable options.undo = True in .visidatarc to recover from accidental deletes.

Sample Data

order_id  customer  status   amount  region
1001      Alice     active   250     sg
1002      Bob       pending  150     kl
1003      Carol     active   400     sg
1004      Dave      error    0       jk
1005      Eve       pending  320     kl

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Add a Blank Row

a           # append one blank row after current row
ga N        # append N blank rows

# Move cursor to any row
a

A blank row appears after the cursor. Fill each cell with e (enter edit mode):

e           # enter edit mode on the blank cell
# Type value → Tab → next cell → continue

Add multiple blank rows at once:

ga 5        # add 5 blank rows

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Delete a Row

d           # delete current row
gd          # delete all selected rows (bulk)

# Delete a single row
# Move cursor to the row
d

# Delete all selected rows
# Select rows first (see Row Selection)
|            # Enter: error
gd           # delete all error rows

# Undo if needed
U

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Undo and Redo

U           # undo most recent modification
R           # redo most recent undo

Undo requires options.undo = True in your .visidatarc file:

# In ~/.visidatarc:
options.undo = True

Quick Reference

Key	Action
a	Append one blank row after current row
ga N	Append N blank rows
d	Delete current row
gd	Delete all selected rows (no confirmation)
U	Undo most recent modification
R	Redo most recent undo

Hands-On Practice

vd ~/github/practice-folder/visidata/01-loading/01-employees.csv

# 1. Add a row: move cursor → a → fill cells with e
# 2. Add 3 rows: ga 3 → fill them
# 3. Delete a row: move to it → d
# 4. Select rows with error: | → error → gd → U to undo

What's Next

• Copying and Pasting Rows — yank, paste, cut, cell copy
• Row Selection — select rows by pattern, expression, value