How can i read .xls files (Excel) with PHP?

php excel xls
Kristian Rafteseth picture Kristian Rafteseth · Nov 14, 2011 · Viewed 46k times · Source

I need to convert an .xls file to text, i dont need it formatted in any way. The file is filled with productids like PN-5098P, which i will preg_match_all to get.

What is the simplest solution? I tried simply opening the file in a regular texteditor, the ids are not showing, so i guess i need some kind of binary converter?

Answer

Matchu picture Matchu · Nov 14, 2011

XLS is a complex proprietary format, and it might be difficult to work with. If you end up having trouble with libraries like Clint suggested, consider only accepting files in a more simpler format, like CSV, which is super-duper easy to deal with. If that solution is acceptable in this situation, it'll end up making your life much easier.

Related questions

Spreadsheet_Excel_Writer data output is damaged

I use Spreadsheet_Excel_Writer to generate .xls file and it works fine until I have to deal with a large amount of data. On certain stage it just writes some nonsense chars and quits filling certain columns. However some …

Read More
Lightweight Excel(xls/xlsx) php library needed

Possible Duplicate: Alternative for PHP_excel A friend would like to use a Php Excel library to read/write files on formats xls and xlsx, he knows about the one called "PhpExcel" but apparently is way too big of a …

Read More
Read XLS in PHP using PhpSpreadsheet

I have a requirements to read XLS files (not xlsx) using PhpSpreadsheet and I having trouble. I tried this (as the documentation say but...) require 'vendor/autoload.php'; use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet; $spreadsheet = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::load("lista.xls"); $worksheet = $…

Read More