macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install topfewlocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install topfewMacPorts ports tree · textproc/topfew/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install topfew with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix
Finds the field values which appear most often in a stream of records. Version 2.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#topfewnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/to/topfew/package.nix · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
Finds the field values which appear most often in a stream of records
Project links
Commands and aliases
- topfew
history
Project history and usage
topfew is a Go command-line utility for finding the most frequent records or field combinations in text streams and files. It packages a familiar Unix analysis pattern into a faster, purpose-built binary.
Project history
Tim Bray created Topfew as a utility for counting common values in streams of records, with the README crediting his version 0.1 and later work toward 1.0 to ideas from Dirkjan Ochtman and Simon Fell. The project reached a documented 1.0 release in April 2024, and the current README describes release 2.0.
The design is explicitly close to traditional shell composition: the README states that its result can be duplicated with awk, grep, sed, sort, uniq, and head, but argues that Topfew is for cases where performance matters on large inputs. The examples are package-nerd friendly: Apache logs, quoted fields, grep/vgrep filters, sed-style cleanups, and multi-threaded file processing.
Adoption history
topfew is niche but packaged beyond its source repository. The input package metadata lists Homebrew, MacPorts, and Nix package names, matching its role as a small single-purpose CLI that is useful enough to show up in Unix package collections.
How it is used
The basic form is `topfew --fields 1 access_log`, which finds the most common first field in an Apache log. More advanced use combines field selection, regex separators, grep and inverse-grep filters, sed-style transformations, quoted-field parsing, output limits, and worker counts.
Why package nerds care
topfew matters to package nerds because it is a performance-oriented replacement for a shell pipeline they already know. It is the sort of small binary people install from Homebrew or Nix when a log-analysis one-liner becomes too slow or too hard to repeat.
Timeline
- 2020: Author blog posts describe Topfew as a small utility replacing the `sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head` pattern.
- 2024: Tim Bray announced Topfew 1.0.
- Current: README describes release 2.0 and documents Homebrew-friendly CLI usage.
Related projects
- awk, grep, sed, sort, uniq, head, Apache httpd logs, Go runtime.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:stream,record
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 10 platform targets.
- Build metadata lists 1 build dependencies.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
topfew | cli | global executable |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-07-08
manager version2.0.0
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamcurrent
latest detectedv2.0.0
https://github.com/timbray/topfew
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:topfew |
|---|---|
| Version | 2.0.0 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/topfew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/timbray/topfew |
| Repository | https://github.com/timbray/topfew |
| Upstream docs | https://github.com/timbray/topfew#readme |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://github.com/timbray/topfew/archive/refs/tags/v2.0.0.tar.gz |
| Build dependencies | go |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | topfew |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
topfew
nix profile install nixpkgs#topfew- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Topfew
MacPorts95%
topfew
sudo port install topfew- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Topfew
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment