DbfSharp 0.2.8

DbfSharp CLI Tool

A high-performance, cross-platform command-line tool for reading and processing DBF (dBASE) files with comprehensive support for legacy data formats, memo files, and modern output options including shapefile support.

Quick Start

# Install as global .NET tool
dotnet tool install -g DbfSharp

# View DBF file structure
dbfsharp info data.dbf

# Export to CSV
dbfsharp read data.dbf --format csv --output data.csv

# Pipe output to other tools
dbfsharp read data.dbf --format json | jq '.[] | select(.SALARY > 50000)'

# Read shapefile with geometry
dbfsharp read buildings.shp --format geojson --output buildings.geojson

Installation

Global .NET Tool (Recommended)

dotnet tool install -g DbfSharp

Homebrew

brew install dbfsharp

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/emmorts/DbfSharp.git
cd DbfSharp/DbfSharp.ConsoleAot
dotnet build -c Release

Requirements

• .NET 9.0 or later (only if installing as a .NET tool)

Features

• High-performance DBF reading optimized for large files
• Cross-platform native AOT compilation
• Shapefile support with spatial queries (bounding box, nearest neighbor)
• Multiple output formats (table, CSV, TSV, JSON, GeoJSON)
• Legacy format compatibility (dBASE III/IV/5, Visual FoxPro, Clipper)
• Memo file support (FPT, DBT)
• Encoding handling for various character sets
• Pipeline integration with stdin/stdout support

Commands

read - Extract and Export Data

Reads DBF file contents and exports in various formats. Also supports shapefiles with full geometry processing.

dbfsharp read [file-path] [options]

Arguments:

• file-path - Path to DBF file or shapefile (reads from stdin if omitted)

Options

Spatial Query Options (Shapefiles only)

info - Analyze File Structure

Analyzes DBF files and shapefiles, displaying comprehensive metadata, field definitions, spatial information, and statistics.

dbfsharp info [file-path] [options]

Arguments:

• file-path - Path to DBF file or shapefile (reads from stdin if omitted)

Options

Usage Examples

Basic Operations

# View file structure and metadata
dbfsharp info customers.dbf

# Display first 10 records as table
dbfsharp read customers.dbf --limit 10

# Export entire file to CSV
dbfsharp read customers.dbf --format csv --output customers.csv

# Analyze shapefile structure and spatial info
dbfsharp info buildings.shp --verbose

# Export shapefile to GeoJSON
dbfsharp read roads.shp --format geojson --output roads.geojson

Data Analysis & Filtering

# Extract specific fields only
dbfsharp read customers.dbf --fields "ID,NAME,EMAIL,PHONE" --format csv

# Sample data: skip first 100, take next 50 records
dbfsharp read large_file.dbf --skip 100 --limit 50

# Include deleted records for data recovery
dbfsharp read archive.dbf --show-deleted --format json

# Handle legacy encoding issues
dbfsharp read legacy.dbf --encoding cp1252

# Filter shapefile by bounding box (spatial query)
dbfsharp read parcels.shp --bounding-box "-118.5,34.0,-118.0,34.5" --format geojson

# Find nearest features to a point
dbfsharp read points.shp --nearest-point "-118.25,34.05" --nearest-count 5 --format geojson

Pipeline Integration

# Process with standard Unix tools
dbfsharp read data.dbf --format csv --fields "ID,NAME" | sort | head -10

# Filter with grep and count
dbfsharp read employees.dbf --format csv | grep "Engineer" | wc -l

# Convert to JSON and query with jq
dbfsharp read sales.dbf --format json | jq '.[] | select(.AMOUNT > 1000)'

# Stream processing from stdin
cat remote_file.dbf | dbfsharp read --format json --fields "ID,STATUS"

Spatial Operations

# Export shapefile to GeoJSON with full geometry
dbfsharp read polygons.shp --format geojson --output polygons.geojson

# Spatial filtering by bounding box
dbfsharp read features.shp --bounding-box "-74.1,40.6,-73.9,40.8" --format geojson

# Find features containing a specific point
dbfsharp read parcels.shp --contains-point "-74.0,40.7" --format geojson

# Analyze spatial extent and geometry distribution
dbfsharp info large_shapefile.shp --verbose

# Build spatial index for performance
dbfsharp read large_dataset.shp --build-spatial-index --bounding-box "-122.5,37.7,-122.3,37.8"

# Complex spatial data extraction with performance optimization
dbfsharp read census_tracts.shp --build-spatial-index \
    --bounding-box "-122.5,37.7,-122.3,37.8" \
    --fields "GEOID,NAME,POP2020" \
    --format geojson --output sf_tracts.geojson

Performance

• Streaming processing with automatic memory/file strategy based on size
• R-tree spatial indexing for fast spatial queries
• Memory-mapped files for large datasets
• Native AOT compilation for minimal startup overhead
• Use --build-spatial-index for large shapefiles with spatial queries

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.