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fexcel/README.md
2025-12-16 11:12:44 +01:00

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# fexcel
A simple command-line tool to sanitize invalid UTF-8 sequences from input streams.
## Overview
`fexcel` reads data from stdin, replaces any invalid UTF-8 sequences with the Unicode replacement character (<28>), and writes the sanitized output to stdout. This is particularly useful when working with files that may contain mixed or invalid encodings, such as Windows-exported CSV files.
## Installation
```bash
mise run install # or
cargo install --path . --force
```
Or build from source:
```bash
cargo build --release
```
The binary will be available at `target/release/fexcel`.
## Usage
Use `fexcel` as a pipe filter to clean input before passing it to tools that require valid UTF-8:
```bash
cat my-windows-exported.csv | fexcel | csvlens
```
Without `fexcel`, tools like `csvlens` may fail with invalid UTF-8 errors. By piping through `fexcel` first, you can safely view and process files with encoding issues.
### Additional Examples
Clean a file and save the output:
```bash
cat problematic-file.txt | fexcel > cleaned-file.txt
```
Use with any UTF-8 sensitive tool:
```bash
cat messy-data.log | fexcel | grep "pattern"
```
## License
See LICENSE file for details.