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NAME

 Spreadsheet::Read - Read the data from a spreadsheet

SYNOPSIS

 use Spreadsheet::Read;
 my $book  = ReadData ("test.csv", sep => ";");
 my $book  = ReadData ("test.sxc");
 my $book  = ReadData ("test.ods");
 my $book  = ReadData ("test.xls");
 my $book  = ReadData ("test.xlsx");
 my $book  = ReadData ($fh, parser => "xls");

 my $sheet = $book->[1];             # first datasheet
 my $cell  = $book->[1]{A3};         # content of field A3 of sheet 1
 my $cell  = $book->[1]{cell}[1][3]; # same, unformatted

DESCRIPTION

Spreadsheet::Read tries to transparently read *any* spreadsheet and return its content in a universal manner independent of the parsing module that does the actual spreadsheet scanning.

For OpenOffice and/or LibreOffice this module uses Spreadsheet::ReadSXC

For Microsoft Excel this module uses Spreadsheet::ParseExcel, Spreadsheet::ParseXLSX, or Spreadsheet::XLSX.

For CSV this module uses Text::CSV_XS or Text::CSV_PP.

For SquirrelCalc there is a very simplistic built-in parser

Data structure

The data is returned as an array reference:

  $book = [
      # Entry 0 is the overall control hash
      { sheets  => 2,
        sheet   => {
          "Sheet 1"  => 1,
          "Sheet 2"  => 2,
          },
        type    => "xls",
        parser  => "Spreadsheet::ParseExcel",
        version => 0.59,
        error   => undef,
        },
      # Entry 1 is the first sheet
      { label   => "Sheet 1",
        maxrow  => 2,
        maxcol  => 4,
        cell    => [ undef,
          [ undef, 1 ],
          [ undef, undef, undef, undef, undef, "Nugget" ],
          ],
        A1      => 1,
        B5      => "Nugget",
        },
      # Entry 2 is the second sheet
      { label   => "Sheet 2",
        :
        :

To keep as close contact to spreadsheet users, row and column 1 have index 1 too in the cell element of the sheet hash, so cell "A1" is the same as cell [1, 1] (column first). To switch between the two, there are two helper functions available: cell2cr () and cr2cell ().

The cell hash entry contains unformatted data, while the hash entries with the traditional labels contain the formatted values (if applicable).

The control hash (the first entry in the returned array ref), contains some spreadsheet meta-data. The entry sheet is there to be able to find the sheets when accessing them by name:

  my %sheet2 = %{$book->[$book->[0]{sheet}{"Sheet 2"}]};

Functions

my $book = ReadData ($source [, option => value [, ... ]]);
my $book = ReadData ("file.csv", sep => ',', quote => '"');
my $book = ReadData ("file.xls", dtfmt => "yyyy-mm-dd");
my $book = ReadData ("file.ods");
my $book = ReadData ("file.sxc");
my $book = ReadData ("content.xml");
my $book = ReadData ($content);
my $book = ReadData ($fh, parser => "xls");

Tries to convert the given file, string, or stream to the data structure described above.

Processing Excel data from a stream or content is supported through a File::Temp temporary file or IO::Scalar when available.

ReadSXC does preserve sheet order as of version 0.20.

Currently supported options are:

parser

Force the data to be parsed by a specific format. Possible values are csv, prl (or perl), sc (or squirelcalc), sxc (or oo, ods, openoffice, libreoffice) xls (or excel), and xlsx (or excel2007).

When parsing streams, instead of files, it is highly recommended to pass this option.

cells

Control the generation of named cells ("A1" etc). Default is true.

rc

Control the generation of the {cell}[c][r] entries. Default is true.

attr

Control the generation of the {attr}[c][r] entries. Default is false. See "Cell Attributes" below.

clip

If set, ReadData () will remove all trailing rows and columns per sheet that have no visual data. If a sheet has no data at all, the sheet will be skipped entirely when this attribute is true.

This option is only valid if cells is true. The default value is true if cells is true, and false otherwise.

strip

If set, ReadData () will remove trailing- and/or leading-whitespace from every field.

  strip  leading  strailing
  -----  -------  ---------
    0      n/a      n/a
    1     strip     n/a
    2      n/a     strip
    3     strip    strip
sep

Set separator for CSV. Default is comma ,.

quote

Set quote character for CSV. Default is ".

dtfmt

Set the format for M$Excel date fields that are set to use the default date format. The default format in Excel is 'm-d-yy', which is both not year 2000 safe, nor very useful. The default is now 'yyyy-mm-dd', which is more ISO-like.

Note that date formatting in M$Excel is not reliable at all, as it will store/replace/change the date field separator in already stored formats if you change your locale settings. So the above mentioned default can be either "m-d-yy" OR "m/d/yy" depending on what that specific character happened to be at the time the user saved the file.

debug

Enable some diagnostic messages to STDERR.

The value determines how much diagnostics are dumped (using Data::Peek). A value of 9 and higher will dump the entire structure from the back-end parser.

All other attributes/options will be passed to the underlying parser if that parser supports attributes.

Using CSV

In case of CSV parsing, ReadData () will use the first line of the file to auto-detect the separation character if the first argument is a file and both sep and quote are not passed as attributes. Text::CSV_XS (or Text::CSV_PP) is able to automatically detect and use \r line endings).

CSV can parse streams too, but be sure to pass sep and/or quote if these do not match the default , and ".

When an error is found in the CSV, it is automatically reported (to STDERR). The structure will store the error in $ss->[0]{error} as anonymous list returned by $csv->error_diag. See Text::CSV_XS for documentation.

 my $ss = ReadData ("bad.csv");
 $ss->[0]{error} and say $ss->[0]{error}[1];

Functions

my $cell = cr2cell (col, row)

cr2cell () converts a (column, row) pair (1 based) to the traditional cell notation:

  my $cell = cr2cell ( 4, 14); # $cell now "D14"
  my $cell = cr2cell (28,  4); # $cell now "AB4"
my ($col, $row) = cell2cr ($cell)

cell2cr () converts traditional cell notation to a (column, row) pair (1 based):

  my ($col, $row) = cell2cr ("D14"); # returns ( 4, 14)
  my ($col, $row) = cell2cr ("AB4"); # returns (28,  4)
my @row = row ($sheet, $row)
my @row = Spreadsheet::Read::row ($book->[1], 3)

Get full row of formatted values (like $sheet->{A3} .. $sheet->{G3})

Note that the indexes in the returned list are 0-based.

row () is not imported by default, so either specify it in the use argument list, or call it fully qualified.

my @row = cellrow ($book, $row)
my @row = Spreadsheet::Read::cellrow ($book->[1], 3)

Get full row of unformatted values (like $sheet->{cell}[1][3] .. $sheet->{cell}[7][3])

Note that the indexes in the returned list are 0-based.

cellrow () is not imported by default, so either specify it in the use argument list, or call it fully qualified.

my @rows = rows ($book)
my @rows = Spreadsheet::Read::rows ($book->[1])

Convert {cell}'s [column][row] to a [row][column] list.

Note that the indexes in the returned list are 0-based, where the index in the {cell} entry is 1-based.

rows () is not imported by default, so either specify it in the use argument list, or call it fully qualified.

parses ($format)
Spreadsheet::Read::parses ("CSV")

parses () returns Spreadsheet::Read's capability to parse the required format.

parses () is not imported by default, so either specify it in the use argument list, or call it fully qualified.

my $rs_version = Version ()
my $v = Spreadsheet::Read::Version ()

Returns the current version of Spreadsheet::Read.

Version () is not imported by default, so either specify it in the use argument list, or call it fully qualified.

Cell Attributes

If the constructor was called with attr having a true value, effort is made to analyze and store field attributes like this:

    { label  => "Sheet 1",
      maxrow => 5,
      maxcol => 2,
      cell   => [ undef,
        [ undef, 1 ],
        [ undef, undef, undef, undef, undef, "Nugget" ],
        ],
      attr   => [ undef,
        [ undef, {
          type    => "numeric",
          fgcolor => "#ff0000",
          bgcolor => undef,
          font    => "Arial",
          size    => undef,
          format  => "## ##0.00",
          halign  => "right",
          valign  => "top",
          uline   => 0,
          bold    => 0,
          italic  => 0,
          wrap    => 0,
          merged  => 0,
          hidden  => 0,
          locked  => 0,
          enc     => "utf-8",
          }, ]
        [ undef, undef, undef, undef, undef, {
          type    => "text",
          fgcolor => "#e2e2e2",
          bgcolor => undef,
          font    => "Letter Gothic",
          size    => 15,
          format  => undef,
          halign  => "left",
          valign  => "top",
          uline   => 0,
          bold    => 0,
          italic  => 0,
          wrap    => 0,
          merged  => 0,
          hidden  => 0,
          locked  => 0,
          enc     => "iso8859-1",
          }, ]
      A1     => 1,
      B5     => "Nugget",
      },

This has now been partially implemented, mainly for Excel, as the other parsers do not (yet) support all of that. YMMV.

TOOLS

This modules comes with a few tools that perform tasks from the FAQ, like "How do I select only column D through F from sheet 2 into a CSV file?"

If the module was installed without the tools, you can find them here: https://github.com/Tux/Spreadsheet-Read/tree/master/examples

xlscat

Show (parts of) a spreadsheet in plain text, CSV, or HTML

 usage: xlscat   [-s <sep>] [-L] [-n] [-A] [-u] [Selection] file.xls
                 [-c | -m]                 [-u] [Selection] file.xls
                  -i                            [-S sheets] file.xls
     Generic options:
        -v[#]       Set verbose level (xlscat/xlsgrep)
        -d[#]       Set debug   level (Spreadsheet::Read)
        -u          Use unformatted values
        --noclip    Do not strip empty sheets and
                    trailing empty rows and columns
        -e <enc>    Set encoding for input and output
        -b <enc>    Set encoding for input
        -a <enc>    Set encoding for output
     Input CSV:
        --in-sep=c  Set input sep_char for CSV
     Input XLS:
        --dtfmt=fmt Specify the default date format to replace 'm-d-yy'
                    the default replacement is 'yyyy-mm-dd'
     Output Text (default):
        -s <sep>    Use separator <sep>. Default '|', \n allowed
        -L          Line up the columns
        -n          Number lines (prefix with column number)
        -A          Show field attributes in ANSI escapes
     Output Index only:
        -i          Show sheet names and size only
     Output CSV:
        -c          Output CSV, separator = ','
        -m          Output CSV, separator = ';'
     Output HTML:
        -H          Output HTML
     Selection:
        -S <sheets> Only print sheets <sheets>. 'all' is a valid set
                    Default only prints the first sheet
        -R <rows>   Only print rows    <rows>. Default is 'all'
        -C <cols>   Only print columns <cols>. Default is 'all'
        -F <flds>   Only fields <flds> e.g. -FA3,B16

xlsgrep

Show (parts of) a spreadsheet that match a pattern in plain text, CSV, or HTML

 usage: xlsgrep  [-s <sep>] [-L] [-n] [-A] [-u] [Selection] pattern file.xls
                 [-c | -m]                 [-u] [Selection] pattern file.xls
                  -i                            [-S sheets] pattern file.xls
     Generic options:
        -v[#]       Set verbose level (xlscat/xlsgrep)
        -d[#]       Set debug   level (Spreadsheet::Read)
        -u          Use unformatted values
        --noclip    Do not strip empty sheets and
                    trailing empty rows and columns
        -e <enc>    Set encoding for input and output
        -b <enc>    Set encoding for input
        -a <enc>    Set encoding for output
     Input CSV:
        --in-sep=c  Set input sep_char for CSV
     Input XLS:
        --dtfmt=fmt Specify the default date format to replace 'm-d-yy'
                    the default replacement is 'yyyy-mm-dd'
     Output Text (default):
        -s <sep>    Use separator <sep>. Default '|', \n allowed
        -L          Line up the columns
        -n          Number lines (prefix with column number)
        -A          Show field attributes in ANSI escapes
     Grep options:
        -i          Ignore case
        -w          Match whole words only
        -h[#]       Show # header lines
     Output CSV:
        -c          Output CSV, separator = ','
        -m          Output CSV, separator = ';'
     Output HTML:
        -H          Output HTML
     Selection:
        -S <sheets> Only print sheets <sheets>. 'all' is a valid set
                    Default only prints the first sheet
        -R <rows>   Only print rows    <rows>. Default is 'all'
        -C <cols>   Only print columns <cols>. Default is 'all'
        -F <flds>   Only fields <flds> e.g. -FA3,B16

ss2tk

Show a spreadsheet in a perl/Tk spreadsheet widget

 usage: ss2tk [-w <width>] [X11 options] file.xls [<pattern>]
        -w <width> use <width> as default column width (4)

xls2csv

Convert a spreadsheet to CSV. This is just a small wrapper over xlscat.

 usage: xls2csv [ -o file.csv ] file.xls

TODO

Options
Module Options

New Spreadsheet::Read options are bound to happen. I'm thinking of an option that disables the reading of the data entirely to speed up an index request (how many sheets/fields/columns). See xlscat -i.

Parser options

Try to transparently support as many options as the encapsulated modules support regarding (un)formatted values, (date) formats, hidden columns rows or fields etc. These could be implemented like attr above but names meta, or just be new values in the attr hashes.

Other spreadsheet formats

I consider adding any spreadsheet interface that offers a usable API.

Add an OO interface

Consider making the ref an object, though I currently don't see the big advantage (yet). Maybe I'll make it so that it is a hybrid functional / OO interface.

SEE ALSO

Text::CSV_XS, Text::CSV_PP

http://metacpan.org/release/Text-CSV_XS , http://metacpan.org/release/Text-CSV_PP , and http://metacpan.org/release/Text-CSV .

Text::CSV is a wrapper over Text::CSV_XS (the fast XS version) and/or Text::CSV_PP (the pure perl version)

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel

Spreadsheet::ParseXLSX

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-ParseXLSX

Spreadsheet::XLSX

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-XLSX

Spreadsheet::ReadSXC

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-ReadSXC

Spreadsheet::BasicRead

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-BasicRead for xlscat likewise functionality (Excel only)

Spreadsheet::ConvertAA

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-ConvertAA for an alternative set of cell2cr () / cr2cell () pair

Spreadsheet::Perl

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-Perl offers a Pure Perl implementation of a spreadsheet engine. Users that want this format to be supported in Spreadsheet::Read are hereby motivated to offer patches. It's not high on my TODO-list.

Spreadsheet::CSV

http://metacpan.org/release/Spreadsheet-CSV offers the interesting approach of seeing all supported spreadsheet formats as if it were CSV, mimicking the Text::CSV_XS interface.

xls2csv

http://metacpan.org/release/xls2csv offers an alternative for my xlscat -c, in the xls2csv tool, but this tool focuses on character encoding transparency, and requires some other modules.

AUTHOR

H.Merijn Brand, <h.m.brand@xs4all.nl>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2005-2015 H.Merijn Brand

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.