Read and write simple Excel and CSV files

This package allows you to easily read and write simple Excel and CSV files. Behind the scenes generators are used to ensure low memory usage, even when working with large files.

Here's an example on how to read an Excel or CSV.

SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToFile)->getRows()
   ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
        // process the row
    });

If $pathToFile ends with .csv a CSV file is assumed. If it ends with .xlsx, an Excel file is assumed.

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Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require spatie/simple-excel

Usage

Reading a CSV

Imagine you have a CSV with this content.

email,first_name
[email protected],john
[email protected],jane

// $rows is an instance of Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection
$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)->getRows();

$rows->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
   // in the first pass $rowProperties will contain
   // ['email' => '[email protected]', 'first_name' => 'john']
});

Reading an Excel file

Reading an Excel file is identical to reading a CSV file. Just make sure that the path given to the create method of SimpleExcelReader ends with xlsx.

Manually setting the file type

You can pass the file type to the create method of SimpleExcelReader as the second, optional argument:

SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToFile, 'csv');

Working with LazyCollections

getRows will return an instance of Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection. This class is part of the Laravel framework. Behind the scenes generators are used, so memory usage will be low, even for large files.

You'll find a list of methods you can use on a LazyCollection in the Laravel documentation.

Here's a quick, silly example where we only want to process rows that have a first_name that contains more than 5 characters.

SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)->getRows()
    ->filter(function(array $rowProperties) {
       return strlen($rowProperties['first_name']) > 5
    })
    ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
        // processing rows
    });

Reading a file without titles

If the file you are reading does not contain a title row, then you should use the noHeaderRow() method.

// $rows is an instance of Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection
$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->noHeaderRow()
    ->getRows()
    ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
       // in the first pass $rowProperties will contain
       // [0 => '[email protected]', 1 => 'john']
});

Retrieving Header Row values

If you would like to retrieve the header row as an array, you can use the getHeaders() method.

$headers = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)->getHeaders();

// $headers will contain
// [ 'email', 'first_name' ]

Trimming Header Row values

If the file you are reading contains a title row, but you need to trim additional characters on the title values, then you should use the trimHeaderRow() method. This functionality mimics the trim method, and the default characters it trims, matches that function.

Imagine you have a csv file with this content.

email , first_name
[email protected],john
[email protected],jane

// $rows is an instance of Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection
$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->trimHeaderRow()
    ->getRows()
    ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
       // in the first pass $rowProperties will contain
       // ['email' => '[email protected]', 'last_name' => 'john']
});

trimHeaderRow() additionally accepts a param to specify what characters to trim. This param can utilize the same functionality allowed by the trim function's $characters definition including a range of characters.

Convert headers to snake_case

If you would like all the headers to be converted to snake_case, use the the headersToSnakeCase() method.

Email,First Name,Last Name
[email protected],john,doe
[email protected],mary jane,doe

$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->headersToSnakeCase()
    ->getRows()
    ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
        // rowProperties converted to snake_case
        // ['email' => '[email protected]', 'first_name' => 'John', 'last_name' => 'doe']
    });

Manually formatting headers

You can use a custom formatter to change the headers using the formatHeadersUsing method and passing a closure.

email,first_name,last_name
[email protected],john,doe
[email protected],mary jane,doe

$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->formatHeadersUsing(fn($header) => "{$header}_simple_excel")
    ->getRows()
    ->each(function(array $rowProperties) {
        // ['email_simple_excel' => '[email protected]', 'first_name_simple_excel' => 'John', 'last_name_simple_excel' => 'doe']
    });

Manually working with the reader object

Under the hood this package uses the box/spout package. You can get to the underlying reader that implements \Box\Spout\Reader\ReaderInterface by calling the getReader method.

$reader = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)->getReader();

Limiting the result set

The take method allows you to specify a limit on how many rows should be returned.

// $rows is an instance of Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection
$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->take(5)
    ->getRows();

The skip method allows you to define which row to start reading data from. In this example we get rows 11 to 16.

$rows = SimpleExcelReader::create($pathToCsv)
    ->skip(10)
    ->take(5)
    ->getRows();

Writing files

Here's how you can write a CSV file:

$writer = SimpleExcelWriter::create($pathToCsv)
     ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'John',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ])
    ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'Jane',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ]);

The file at pathToCsv will contain:

first_name,last_name
John,Doe
Jane,Doe

Writing an Excel file

Writing an Excel file is identical to writing a csv. Just make sure that the path given to the create method of SimpleExcelWriter ends with xlsx.

Manually setting the file type

You can pass the file type to the create method of SimpleExcelWriter as the second, optional argument:

SimpleExcelWriter::create('php://output', 'csv');

Streaming an Excel file to the browser

Instead of writing a file to disk, you can stream it directly to the browser.

$writer = SimpleExcelWriter::streamDownload('your-export.xlsx')
     ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'John',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ])
    ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'Jane',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ])
    ->toBrowser();

Writing multiple rows at once

You can use addRows instead of addRow to add multiple rows at once.

$writer = SimpleExcelWriter::streamDownload('your-export.xlsx')
     ->addRows([
        [
            'first_name' => 'John',
            'last_name' => 'Doe',
        ],
        [
            'first_name' => 'Jane',
            'last_name' => 'Doe',
        ],
    ]);

Writing a file without titles

If the file you are writing should not have a title row added automatically, then you should use the noHeaderRow() method.

$writer = SimpleExcelWriter::create($pathToCsv)
    ->noHeaderRow()
    ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'Jane',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ]);
});

This will output:

Jane,Doe

Adding layout

Under the hood this package uses the box/spout package. That package contains a StyleBuilder that you can use to format rows. Styles can only be used on excel documents.

use Box\Spout\Writer\Common\Creator\Style\StyleBuilder;
use Box\Spout\Common\Entity\Style\Color;

$style = (new StyleBuilder())
   ->setFontBold()
   ->setFontSize(15)
   ->setFontColor(Color::BLUE)
   ->setShouldWrapText()
   ->setBackgroundColor(Color::YELLOW)
   ->build();

$writer->addRow(['values, 'of', 'the', 'row'], $style)

To style your HeaderRow simply call the setHeaderStyle($style) Method.

$writer->setHeaderStyle($style);

For more information on styles head over to the Spout docs.

Using an alternative delimiter

By default the SimpleExcelReader will assume that the delimiter is a ,.

This is how you can use an alternative delimiter:

SimpleExcelWriter::create($pathToCsv)->useDelimiter(';');

Getting the number of rows written

You can get the number of rows that are written. This number includes the automatically added header row.

$writerWithAutomaticHeader = SimpleExcelWriter::create($this->pathToCsv)
    ->addRow([
        'first_name' => 'John',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ]);

$writerWithoutAutomaticHeader->getNumberOfRows() // returns 2

Disable BOM

You can also disable adding a BOM to the start of the file. BOM must be disabled on create and cannot be disabled after creation of the writer.

A BOM, or byte order mark, indicates a number of things for the file being written including the file being unicode as well as it's UTF encoding type.

SimpleExcelWriter::createWithoutBom($this->pathToCsv, $type);

Additional information about BOM can be found here.

Manually working with the writer object

Under the hood this package uses the box/spout package. You can get to the underlying writer that implements \Box\Spout\Reader\WriterInterface by calling the getWriter method.

$writer = SimpleExcelWriter::create($pathToCsv)->getWriter();

Testing

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security

If you discover any security related issues, please email [email protected] instead of using the issue tracker.

Postcardware

You're free to use this package, but if it makes it to your production environment we highly appreciate you sending us a postcard from your hometown, mentioning which of our package(s) you are using.

Our address is: Spatie, Kruikstraat 22, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium.

We publish all received postcards on our company website.

Credits

• Freek Van der Herten
• All Contributors

Alternatives

• PhpSpreadsheet
• laravel-excel

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.