NOTE: this project has been merged into js-xlsx. The API is identical to js-xls. Some future changes may be backported, but all new projects should use js-xlsx. The API is identical and xlsx.js is a complete drop-in replacement.
Parser for Excel XLS (BIFF5/BIFF8) and 2003-2004 (XML) files. Pure-JS cleanroom implementation from the Microsoft Open Specifications and related documents.
Demo: http://oss.sheetjs.com/js-xls
Source: http://sheetjs.com/js-xls
With npm:
$ npm install xlsjs
In the browser:
<script lang="javascript" src="xls.js"></script>
With bower:
$ bower install js-xls
CDNjs automatically pulls the latest version and makes all versions available at http://cdnjs.com/libraries/xls
The node version automatically requires modules for additional features. Some of these modules are rather large in size and are only needed in special circumstances, so they do not ship with the core. For browser use, they must be included directly:
<!-- international support from js-codepage -->
<script src="dist/cpexcel.js"></script>
An appropriate version for each dependency is included in the dist/ directory.
The complete single-file version is generated at dist/xls.full.min.js
Since xls.js uses ES5 functions like Array#forEach, older browsers require
Polyfills. This repo and the gh-pages branch include
a shim
To use the shim, add the shim before the script tag that loads xls.js:
<script type="text/javascript" src="/path/to/shim.js"></script>
For parsing, the first step is to read the file. This involves acquiring the data and feeding it into the library. Here are a few common scenarios:
if(typeof require !== 'undefined') XLS = require('xlsjs');
var workbook = XLS.readFile('test.xls');
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
/* set up XMLHttpRequest */
var url = "test_files/formula_stress_test_ajax.xls";
var oReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
oReq.open("GET", url, true);
oReq.responseType = "arraybuffer";
oReq.onload = function(e) {
var arraybuffer = oReq.response;
/* convert data to binary string */
var data = new Uint8Array(arraybuffer);
var arr = new Array();
for(var i = 0; i != data.length; ++i) arr[i] = String.fromCharCode(data[i]);
var bstr = arr.join("");
/* Call XLS */
var workbook = XLS.read(bstr, {type:"binary"});
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
}
oReq.send();
/* set up drag-and-drop event */
function handleDrop(e) {
e.stopPropagation();
e.preventDefault();
var files = e.dataTransfer.files;
var i,f;
for (i = 0; i != files.length; ++i) {
f = files[i];
var reader = new FileReader();
var name = f.name;
reader.onload = function(e) {
var data = e.target.result;
/* if binary string, read with type 'binary' */
var workbook = XLS.read(data, {type: 'binary'});
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
};
reader.readAsBinaryString(f);
}
}
drop_dom_element.addEventListener('drop', handleDrop, false);
The full object format is described later in this README.
This example extracts the value stored in cell A1 from the first worksheet:
var sheet_name_list = workbook.SheetNames;
var Sheet1A1 = workbook.Sheets[sheet_name_list[0]]['A1'].v;
Complete examples:
Note that older versions of IE do not support HTML5 File API, so the base64 mode is used for testing. On OSX you can get the base64 encoding with:
$ <target_file base64 | pbcopy
On Windows XP and up you can get the base64 encoding using certutil:
> certutil -encode target_file target_file.b64
(note: You have to open the file and remove the header and footer lines)
http://oss.sheetjs.com/js-xls/ajax.html XMLHttpRequest
https://github.com/SheetJS/js-xls/blob/master/bin/xls.njs node
The node version installs a command line tool xls which can read spreadsheet
files and output the contents in various formats. The source is available at
xls.njs in the bin directory.
Some helper functions in XLS.utils generate different views of the sheets:
XLS.utils.sheet_to_csv generates CSVXLS.utils.sheet_to_json generates an array of objectsXLS.utils.get_formulae generates a list of formulaeXLS is the exposed variable in the browser and the exported node variable
XLS.version is the version of the library (added by the build script).
XLS.SSF is an embedded version of the format library.
XLS.read(data, read_opts) attempts to parse data.
XLS.readFile(filename, read_opts) attempts to read filename and parse.
Utilities are available in the XLS.utils object:
Exporting:
sheet_to_json converts a workbook object to an array of JSON objects.sheet_to_csv generates delimiter-separated-values output.sheet_to_formulae generates a list of the formulae (with value fallbacks).The sheet_to_* functions accept a worksheet and an optional options object.
Cell and cell address manipulation:
format_cell generates the text value for a cell (using number formats){en,de}code_{row,col} convert between 0-indexed rows/cols and A1 forms.{en,de}code_cell converts cell addresses{en,de}code_range converts cell rangesjs-xls conforms to the Common Spreadsheet Format (CSF):
Cell address objects are stored as {c:C, r:R} where C and R are 0-indexed
column and row numbers, respectively. For example, the cell address B5 is
represented by the object {c:1, r:4}.
Cell range objects are stored as {s:S, e:E} where S is the first cell and
E is the last cell in the range. The ranges are inclusive. For example, the
range A3:B7 is represented by the object {s:{c:0, r:2}, e:{c:1, r:6}}. Utils
use the following pattern to walk each of the cells in a range:
for(var R = range.s.r; R <= range.e.r; ++R) {
for(var C = range.s.c; C <= range.e.c; ++C) {
var cell_address = {c:C, r:R};
}
}
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
v | raw value (see Data Types section for more info) |
w | formatted text (if applicable) |
t | cell type: b Boolean, n Number, e error, s String, d Date |
f | cell formula encoded as an A1-style string (if applicable) |
F | range of enclosing array if formula is array formula (if applicable) |
z | number format string associated with the cell (if requested) |
s | the style/theme of the cell (if applicable) |
Built-in export utilities (such as the CSV exporter) will use the w text if it
is available. To change a value, be sure to delete cell.w (or set it to
undefined) before attempting to export. The utilities will regenerate the w
text from the number format (cell.z) and the raw value if possible.
The raw value is stored in the v field, interpreted based on the t field.
Type b is the Boolean type. v is interpreted according to JS truth tables
Type e is the Error type. v holds the number and w holds the common name:
| Value | Error Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0x00 | #NULL! |
| 0x07 | #DIV/0! |
| 0x0F | #VALUE! |
| 0x17 | #REF! |
| 0x1D | #NAME? |
| 0x24 | #NUM! |
| 0x2A | #N/A |
| 0x2B | #GETTING_DATA |
Type n is the Number type. This includes all forms of data that Excel stores
as numbers, such as dates/times and Boolean fields. Excel exclusively uses data
that can be fit in an IEEE754 floating point number, just like JS Number, so the
v field holds the raw number. The w field holds formatted text.
Type s is the String type. v should be explicitly stored as a string to
avoid possible confusion.
The A1-style formula string is stored in the f field. Even though different
file formats store the formulae in different ways, the formats are converted.
Shared formulae are decompressed and each cell has the correct formula.
Array formulae are stored in the top-left cell of the array block. All cells
of an array formula have a F field corresponding to the range. A single-cell
formula can be distinguished from a plain formula by the presence of F field.
The sheet_to_formulae method generates one line per formula or array formula.
Array formulae are rendered in the form range=formula while plain cells are
rendered in the form cell=formula or value.
Each key that does not start with ! maps to a cell (using A-1 notation)
worksheet[address] returns the cell object for the specified address.
Special worksheet keys (accessible as worksheet[key], each starting with !):
ws['!ref']: A-1 based range representing the worksheet range. Functions that
work with sheets should use this parameter to determine the range. Cells that
are assigned outside of the range are not processed. In particular, when
writing a worksheet by hand, be sure to update the range. For a longer
discussion, see http://git.io/KIaNKQ
Functions that handle worksheets should test for the presence of !ref field.
If the !ref is omitted or is not a valid range, functions are free to treat
the sheet as empty or attempt to guess the range. The standard utilities that
ship with this library treat sheets as empty (for example, the CSV output is
empty string).
ws['!merges']: array of range objects corresponding to the merged cells in
the worksheet. Plaintext utilities are unaware of merge cells. CSV export
will write all cells in the merge range if they exist, so be sure that only
the first cell (upper-left) in the range is set.
workbook.SheetNames is an ordered list of the sheets in the workbook
wb.Sheets[sheetname] returns an object representing the worksheet.
wb.Props is an object storing the standard properties. wb.Custprops stores
custom properties. Since the XLS standard properties deviate from the XLSX
standard, both objects are identical.
The exported read and readFile functions accept an options argument:
| Option Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| type | Input data encoding (see Input Type below) | |
| cellFormula | true | Save formulae to the .f field ** |
| cellNF | false | Save number format string to the .z field |
| cellStyles | false | Save style/theme info to the .s field |
| sheetRows | 0 | If >0, read the first sheetRows rows ** |
| bookFiles | false | If true, add raw files to book object ** |
| bookProps | false | If true, only parse enough to get book metadata ** |
| bookSheets | false | If true, only parse enough to get the sheet names |
| password | "" | If defined and file is encrypted, use password ** |
cellFormula option only applies to formats that require extra processing to
parse formulae (XLS).cellNF is false, formatted text will be generated and saved to .wbookSheets is false.bookSheets and bookProps combine to give both sets of informationbookFiles adds a cfb object (XLS only)sheetRows-1 rows will be generated when looking at the JSON object output
(since the header row is counted as a row when parsing the data)The defaults are enumerated in bits/79_defaults.js
Strings can be interpreted in multiple ways. The type parameter for read
tells the library how to parse the data argument:
type | expected input |
|---|---|
"base64" | string: base64 encoding of the file |
"binary" | string: binary string (n-th byte is data.charCodeAt(n)) |
"buffer" | nodejs Buffer |
"array" | array: array of 8-bit unsigned int (n-th byte is data[n]) |
"file" | string: filename that will be read and processed (nodejs only) |
Tests utilize the mocha testing framework. Travis-CI and Sauce Labs links:
Test files are housed in another repo.
Running make init will refresh the test_files submodule and get the files.
make test will run the node-based tests. To run the in-browser tests, clone
the oss.sheetjs.com repo and
replace the xls.js file (then fire up the browser and go to stress.html):
$ cp xls.js ../SheetJS.github.io
$ cd ../SheetJS.github.io
$ simplehttpserver # or "python -mSimpleHTTPServer" or "serve"
$ open -a Chromium.app http://localhost:8000/stress.html
For a much smaller test, run make test_misc.
Due to the precarious nature of the Open Specifications Promise, it is very important to ensure code is cleanroom. Consult CONTRIBUTING.md
The xls.js file is constructed from the files in the bits subdirectory. The
build script (run make) will concatenate the individual bits to produce the
script. Before submitting a contribution, ensure that running make will produce
the xls.js file exactly. The simplest way to test is to move the script:
$ mv xls.js xls.new.js
$ make
$ diff xls.js xls.new.js
To produce the dist files, run make dist. The dist files are updated in each
version release and should not be committed between versions.
XLSX/XLSM/XLSB/ODS is available in js-xlsx.
Please consult the attached LICENSE file for details. All rights not explicitly granted by the Apache 2.0 License are reserved by the Original Author.
It is the opinion of the Original Author that this code conforms to the terms of the Microsoft Open Specifications Promise, falling under the same terms as OpenOffice (which is governed by the Apache License v2). Given the vagaries of the promise, the Original Author makes no legal claim that in fact end users are protected from future actions. It is highly recommended that, for commercial uses, you consult a lawyer before proceeding.
Certain features are shared with the Office Open XML File Formats, covered in:
ISO/IEC 29500:2012(E) "Information technology — Document description and processing languages — Office Open XML File Formats"
OSP-covered specifications:
FAQs
Excel 5.0/95 and 97-2004 spreadsheet (BIFF5 XLS / BIFF8 XLS / XML 2003) parser
The npm package xlsjs receives a total of 0 weekly downloads. As such, xlsjs popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that xlsjs demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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