Excel (XLSB/XLSX/XLSM/XLS/XML) and ODS (ODS/FODS/UOS) spreadsheet parser and writer
The xlsx npm package is a library that provides tools to parse and write various spreadsheet formats including XLS, XLSX, and CSV. It allows for the manipulation of spreadsheet data programmatically, making it a useful tool for tasks such as data analysis, reporting, and conversion between different spreadsheet formats.
Reading XLSX files
This feature allows you to read the contents of an XLSX file into a workbook object, which can then be manipulated or queried using the xlsx package's API.
const XLSX = require('xlsx');
const workbook = XLSX.readFile('path/to/your/spreadsheet.xlsx');Writing XLSX files
This feature enables you to create a new XLSX file or modify an existing one and save it to disk. You can add new data, create new sheets, and perform various other operations before writing the file.
const XLSX = require('xlsx');
const workbook = XLSX.utils.book_new();
XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, worksheet, 'Sheet1');
XLSX.writeFile(workbook, 'path/to/your/new/spreadsheet.xlsx');Converting JSON to a worksheet
With this feature, you can convert an array of JavaScript objects (typically representing rows of data) into a worksheet that can be added to a workbook and eventually written to a file.
const XLSX = require('xlsx');
const worksheet = XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet([{name: 'John', age: 30}, {name: 'Jane', age: 28}]);Parsing cell data
This feature allows you to parse data from individual cells or ranges of cells within a sheet. You can extract the data in a JSON format for easy manipulation and use in your application.
const XLSX = require('xlsx');
const workbook = XLSX.readFile('path/to/your/spreadsheet.xlsx');
const firstSheetName = workbook.SheetNames[0];
const worksheet = workbook.Sheets[firstSheetName];
const cellValue = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(worksheet);exceljs is another npm package that provides similar functionalities to xlsx. It allows for reading, writing, and streaming Excel data. Compared to xlsx, exceljs offers a more modern API and additional features such as streaming I/O, which can be beneficial for handling large files or working with data on-the-fly.
sheetjs, also known as xlsx, is actually the same package as xlsx. It is a community-driven fork of the original xlsx package with additional features and improvements. It is often used interchangeably with xlsx.
node-xlsx is a simpler and more lightweight alternative to xlsx. It focuses on parsing and building XLSX/CSV files. While it may not have as many features as xlsx, it can be easier to use for basic tasks and has a smaller footprint.
Parser and writer for various spreadsheet formats. Pure-JS cleanroom implementation from official specifications, related documents, and test files. Emphasis on parsing and writing robustness, cross-format feature compatibility with a unified JS representation, and ES3/ES5 browser compatibility back to IE6.
File format support for known spreadsheet data formats:
With npm:
$ npm install xlsx
In the browser:
<script lang="javascript" src="dist/xlsx.core.min.js"></script>
With bower:
$ bower install js-xlsx
CDNjs automatically pulls the latest version and makes all versions available at http://cdnjs.com/libraries/xlsx
The demos directory includes sample projects for:
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/xlsx.full.min.js
Webpack and browserify builds include optional modules by default. Webpack can
be configured to remove support with resolve.alias:
/* uncomment the lines below to remove support */
resolve: {
alias: { "./dist/cpexcel.js": "" } // <-- omit international support
}
Since xlsx.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 xlsx.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') XLSX = require('xlsx');
var workbook = XLSX.readFile('test.xlsx');
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
var worksheet = XLSX.utils.table_to_book(document.getElementById('tableau'));
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
/* set up XMLHttpRequest */
var url = "test_files/formula_stress_test_ajax.xlsx";
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 XLSX */
var workbook = XLSX.read(bstr, {type:"binary"});
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
}
oReq.send();
/* processing array buffers, only required for readAsArrayBuffer */
function fixdata(data) {
var o = "", l = 0, w = 10240;
for(; l<data.byteLength/w; ++l) o+=String.fromCharCode.apply(null,new Uint8Array(data.slice(l*w,l*w+w)));
o+=String.fromCharCode.apply(null, new Uint8Array(data.slice(l*w)));
return o;
}
var rABS = true; // true: readAsBinaryString ; false: readAsArrayBuffer
/* 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;
var workbook;
if(rABS) {
/* if binary string, read with type 'binary' */
workbook = XLSX.read(data, {type: 'binary'});
} else {
/* if array buffer, convert to base64 */
var arr = fixdata(data);
workbook = XLSX.read(btoa(arr), {type: 'base64'});
}
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
};
if(rABS) reader.readAsBinaryString(f);
else reader.readAsArrayBuffer(f);
}
}
drop_dom_element.addEventListener('drop', handleDrop, false);
/* fixdata and rABS are defined in the drag and drop example */
function handleFile(e) {
var files = e.target.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;
var workbook;
if(rABS) {
/* if binary string, read with type 'binary' */
workbook = XLSX.read(data, {type: 'binary'});
} else {
/* if array buffer, convert to base64 */
var arr = fixdata(data);
workbook = XLSX.read(btoa(arr), {type: 'base64'});
}
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
};
reader.readAsBinaryString(f);
}
}
input_dom_element.addEventListener('change', handleFile, 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 first_sheet_name = workbook.SheetNames[0];
var address_of_cell = 'A1';
/* Get worksheet */
var worksheet = workbook.Sheets[first_sheet_name];
/* Find desired cell */
var desired_cell = worksheet[address_of_cell];
/* Get the value */
var desired_value = (desired_cell ? desired_cell.v : undefined);
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-xlsx/ajax.html XMLHttpRequest
https://github.com/SheetJS/js-xlsx/blob/master/bin/xlsx.njs node
The node version installs a command line tool xlsx which can read spreadsheet
files and output the contents in various formats. The source is available at
xlsx.njs in the bin directory.
Some helper functions in XLSX.utils generate different views of the sheets:
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv generates CSVXLSX.utils.sheet_to_json generates an array of objectsXLSX.utils.sheet_to_formulae generates a list of formulaeFor writing, the first step is to generate output data. The helper functions
write and writeFile will produce the data in various formats suitable for
dissemination. The second step is to actual share the data with the end point.
Assuming workbook is a workbook object:
/* output format determined by filename */
XLSX.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsx');
/* at this point, out.xlsx is a file that you can distribute */
/* bookType can be 'xlsx' or 'xlsm' or 'xlsb' or 'ods' */
var wopts = { bookType:'xlsx', bookSST:false, type:'binary' };
var wbout = XLSX.write(workbook,wopts);
function s2ab(s) {
var buf = new ArrayBuffer(s.length);
var view = new Uint8Array(buf);
for (var i=0; i!=s.length; ++i) view[i] = s.charCodeAt(i) & 0xFF;
return buf;
}
/* the saveAs call downloads a file on the local machine */
saveAs(new Blob([s2ab(wbout)],{type:"application/octet-stream"}), "test.xlsx");
Complete examples:
XLSX is the exposed variable in the browser and the exported node variable
XLSX.version is the version of the library (added by the build script).
XLSX.SSF is an embedded version of the format library.
XLSX.read(data, read_opts) attempts to parse data.
XLSX.readFile(filename, read_opts) attempts to read filename and parse.
Parse options are described in the Parsing Options section.
XLSX.write(wb, write_opts) attempts to write the workbook wb
XLSX.writeFile(wb, filename, write_opts) attempts to write wb to filename
XLSX.writeFileAsync(filename, wb, o, cb) attempts to write wb to filename.
If o is omitted, the writer will use the third argument as the callback.
Write options are described in the Writing Options section.
Utilities are available in the XLSX.utils object:
Importing:
aoa_to_sheet converts an array of arrays of JS data to a worksheet.Exporting:
sheet_to_json converts a worksheet object to an array of JSON objects.
sheet_to_row_object_array is an alias that will be removed in the future.sheet_to_csv generates delimiter-separated-values output.sheet_to_formulae generates a list of the formulae (with value fallbacks).Exporters are described in the Utility Functions section.
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-xlsx 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) |
r | rich text encoding (if applicable) |
h | HTML rendering of the rich text (if applicable) |
c | comments associated with the cell |
z | number format string associated with the cell (if requested) |
l | cell hyperlink object (.Target holds link, .Tooltip is tooltip) |
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 actual array formula is stored in the f field of the first cell in the
array range. Other cells in the range will omit the f field.
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. Dates are
stored as numbers by default and converted with XLSX.SSF.parse_date_code.
Type d is the Date type, generated only when the option cellDates is passed.
Since JSON does not have a natural Date type, parsers are generally expected to
store ISO 8601 Date strings like you would get from date.toISOString(). On
the other hand, writers and exporters should be able to handle date strings and
JS Date objects. Note that Excel disregards timezone modifiers and treats all
dates in the local timezone. js-xlsx does not correct for this error.
Type s is the String type. v should be explicitly stored as a string to
avoid possible confusion.
Type z represents blank stub cells. These do not have any data or type, and
are not processed by any of the core library functions. By default these cells
will not be generated; the parser sheetStubs option must be set to true.
By default, Excel stores dates as numbers with a format code that specifies date
processing. For example, the date 19-Feb-17 is stored as the number 42785
with a number format of d-mmm-yy. The SSF module understands number formats
and performs the appropriate conversion.
XLSX also supports a special date type d where the data is an ISO 8601 date
string. The formatter converts the date back to a number.
The default behavior for all parsers is to generate number cells. Setting
cellDates to true will force the generators to store dates.
Each key that does not start with ! maps to a cell (using A-1 notation)
sheet[address] returns the cell object for the specified address.
Special sheet keys (accessible as sheet[key], each starting with !):
sheet['!ref']: A-1 based range representing the sheet 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 sheet by hand, cells outside of the range are not included
Functions that handle sheets 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).
When reading a worksheet with the sheetRows property set, the ref parameter
will use the restricted range. The original range is set at ws['!fullref']
In addition to the base sheet keys, worksheets also add:
ws['!cols']: array of column properties objects. Column widths are actually
stored in files in a normalized manner, measured in terms of the "Maximum
Digit Width" (the largest width of the rendered digits 0-9, in pixels). When
parsed, the column objects store the pixel width in the wpx field, character
width in the wch field, and the maximum digit width in the MDW field.
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.
Chartsheets are represented as standard sheets. They are distinguished with the
!type property set to "chart".
The underlying data and !ref refer to the cached data in the chartsheet. The
first row of the chartsheet is the underlying header.
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, XLS parsing stores core properties in both places.
wb.WBProps includes more workbook-level properties:
wb.WBProps.date1904 property.The various file formats use different internal names for file properties. The
workbook Props object normalizes the names:
| JS Name | Excel Description |
|---|---|
| Title | Summary tab "Title" |
| Subject | Summary tab "Subject" |
| Author | Summary tab "Author" |
| Manager | Summary tab "Manager" |
| Company | Summary tab "Company" |
| Category | Summary tab "Category" |
| Keywords | Summary tab "Keywords" |
| Comments | Summary tab "Comments" |
| LastAuthor | Statistics tab "Last saved by" |
| CreatedDate | Statistics tab "Created" |
For example, to set the workbook title property:
if(!wb.Props) wb.Props = {};
wb.Props.Title = "Insert Title Here";
Custom properties are added in the workbook Custprops object:
if(!wb.Custprops) wb.Custprops = {};
wb.Custprops["Custom Property"] = "Custom Value";
Even for basic features like date storage, the official Excel formats store the same content in different ways. The parsers are expected to convert from the underlying file format representation to the Common Spreadsheet Format. Writers are expected to convert from CSF back to the underlying file format.
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 translated.
Even though some formats store formulae with a leading equal sign, CSF formulae
do not start with =.
The worksheet representation of A1=1, A2=2, A3=A1+A2:
{
"!ref": "A1:A3",
A1: { t:'n', v:1 },
A2: { t:'n', v:2 },
A3: { t:'n', v:3, f:'A1+A2' }
}
Shared formulae are decompressed and each cell has the formula corresponding to its cell. Writers generally do not attempt to generate shared formulae.
Cells with formula entries but no value will be serialized in a way that Excel
and other spreadsheet tools will recognize. This library will not automatically
compute formula results! For example, to compute BESSELJ in a worksheet:
{
"!ref": "A1:A3",
A1: { t:'n', v:3.14159 },
A2: { t:'n', v:2 },
A3: { t:'n', f:'BESSELJ(A1,A2)' }
}
Array Formulae
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.
For example, setting the cell C1 to the array formula {=SUM(A1:A3*B1:B3)}:
worksheet['C1'] = { t:'n', f: "SUM(A1:A3*B1:B3)", F:"C1:C1" };
For a multi-cell array formula, every cell has the same array range but only the
first cell has content. Consider D1:D3=A1:A3*B1:B3:
worksheet['D1'] = { t:'n', F:"D1:D3", f:"A1:A3*B1:B3" };
worksheet['D2'] = { t:'n', F:"D1:D3" };
worksheet['D3'] = { t:'n', F:"D1:D3" };
Utilities and writers are expected to check for the presence of a F field and
ignore any possible formula element f in cells other than the starting cell.
They are not expected to perform validation of the formulae!
Formula Output
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. Note that string literals are
prefixed with an apostrophe ', consistent with Excel's formula bar display.
Formulae File Format Details
| Storage Representation | Formats | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1-style strings | XLSX | :o: | :o: |
| RC-style strings | XLML and plaintext | :o: | :o: |
| BIFF Parsed formulae | XLSB and all XLS formats | :o: | |
| OpenFormula formulae | ODS/FODS/UOS | :o: | :o: |
Since Excel prohibits named cells from colliding with names of A1 or RC style cell references, a (not-so-simple) regex conversion is possible. BIFF Parsed formulae have to be explicitly unwound. OpenFormula formulae can be converted with regexes for the most part.
Excel internally stores column widths in a nebulous "Max Digit Width" form. The Max Digit Width is the width of the largest digit when rendered. The internal width must be an integer multiple of the the width divided by 256. ECMA-376 describes a formula for converting between pixels and the internal width.
Given the constraints, it is possible to determine the MDW without actually inspecting the font! The parsers guess the pixel width by converting from width to pixels and back, repeating for all possible MDW and selecting the MDW that minimizes the error. XLML actually stores the pixel width, so the guess works in the opposite direction.
The !cols array in each worksheet, if present, is a collection of ColInfo
objects which have the following properties:
type ColInfo = {
MDW?:number; // Excel's "Max Digit Width" unit, always integral
width:number; // width in Excel's "Max Digit Width", width*256 is integral
wpx?:number; // width in screen pixels
wch?:number; // intermediate character calculation
};
Even though all of the information is made available, writers are expected to follow the priority order:
width field if availablewpx pixel width if availablewch character count if availableHyperlinks are stored in the l key of cell objects. The Target field of the
hyperlink object is the target of the link, including the URI fragment. Tooltips
are stored in the Tooltip field and are displayed when you move your mouse
over the text.
For example, the following snippet creates a link from cell A3 to
http://sheetjs.com with the tip "Find us @ SheetJS.com!":
ws['A3'].l = { Target:"http://sheetjs.com", Tooltip:"Find us @ SheetJS.com!" };
Note that Excel does not automatically style hyperlinks -- they will generally be displayed as normal text.
Cell comments are objects stored in the c array of cell objects. The actual
contents of the comment are split into blocks based on the comment author. The
a field of each comment object is the author of the comment and the t field
is the plaintext representation.
For example, the following snippet appends a cell comment into cell A1:
if(!ws.A1.c) ws.A1.c = [];
ws.A1.c.push({a:"SheetJS", t:"I'm a little comment, short and stout!"});
Note: XLSB enforces a 54 character limit on the Author name. Names longer than 54 characters may cause issues with other formats.
Excel enables hiding sheets in the lower tab bar. The sheet data is stored in the file but the UI does not readily make it available. Standard hidden sheets are revealed in the unhide menu. Excel also has "very hidden" sheets which cannot be revealed in the menu. It is only accessible in the VB Editor!
The visibility setting is stored in the Hidden property of the sheet props
array. The values are:
| Value | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | Visible |
| 1 | Hidden |
| 2 | Very Hidden |
With https://rawgit.com/SheetJS/test_files/master/sheet_visibility.xlsx:
> wb.Workbook.Sheets.map(function(x) { return [x.name, x.Hidden] })
[ [ 'Visible', 0 ], [ 'Hidden', 1 ], [ 'VeryHidden', 2 ] ]
Non-Excel formats do not support the Very Hidden state. The best way to test
if a sheet is visible is to check if the Hidden property is logical truth:
> wb.Workbook.Sheets.map(function(x) { return [x.name, !x.Hidden] })
[ [ 'Visible', true ], [ 'Hidden', false ], [ 'VeryHidden', false ] ]
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 |
| cellHTML | true | Parse rich text and save HTML to the .h field |
| cellNF | false | Save number format string to the .z field |
| cellStyles | false | Save style/theme info to the .s field |
| cellDates | false | Store dates as type d (default is n) |
| sheetStubs | false | Create cell objects of type z for stub cells |
| sheetRows | 0 | If >0, read the first sheetRows rows ** |
| bookDeps | false | If true, parse calculation chains |
| 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 |
| bookVBA | false | If true, expose vbaProject.bin to vbaraw field ** |
| password | "" | If defined and file is encrypted, use password ** |
| WTF | false | If true, throw errors on unexpected file features ** |
cellNF is false, formatted text will be generated and saved to .wbookSheets is false.bookSheets and bookProps combine to give both sets of informationDeps will be an empty object if bookDeps is falsybookFiles behavior depends on file type:
keys array (paths in the ZIP) for ZIP-based formatsfiles hash (mapping paths to objects representing the files) for ZIPcfb object for formats using CFB containerssheetRows-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)bookVBA merely exposes the raw vba object. It does not parse the data.WTF:1 forces those errors to be thrown.The defaults are enumerated in bits/84_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) |
Excel and other spreadsheet tools read the first few bytes and apply other
heuristics to determine a file type. This enables file type punning: renaming
files with the .xls extension will tell your computer to use Excel to open the
file but Excel will know how to handle it. This library applies similar logic:
| Byte 0 | Raw File Type | Spreadsheet Types |
|---|---|---|
0xD0 | CFB Container | BIFF 5/8 or password-protected XLSX/XLSB |
0x09 | BIFF Stream | BIFF 2/3/4/5 |
0x3C | XML/HTML | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plaintext |
0x50 | ZIP Archive | XLSB or XLSX/M or ODS or UOS2 or plaintext |
0x49 | Plain Text | SYLK or plaintext |
0x54 | Plain Text | DIF or plaintext |
0xFE | UTF16 Encoded | SpreadsheetML or Flat ODS or UOS1 or plaintext |
DBF files are detected based on the first byte as well as the third and fourth bytes (corresponding to month and day of the file date)
Plaintext format guessing follows the priority order:
| Format | Test |
|---|---|
| XML | starts with < |
| DSV | starts with /sep=.$/, separator is the specified character |
| TSV | one of the first 1024 characters is a tab char "\t" |
| CSV | one of the first 1024 characters is a comma char "," |
| PRN | (default) |
The exported write and writeFile functions accept an options argument:
| Option Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| type | Output data encoding (see Output Type below) | |
| cellDates | false | Store dates as type d (default is n) |
| bookSST | false | Generate Shared String Table ** |
| bookType | "xlsx" | Type of Workbook (see below for supported formats) |
| sheet | "" | Name of Worksheet for single-sheet formats ** |
| compression | false | Use ZIP compression for ZIP-based formats ** |
bookSST is slower and more memory intensive, but has better compatibility
with older versions of iOS NumberscellDates only applies to XLSX output and is not guaranteed to work with
third-party readers. Excel itself does not usually write cells with type d
so non-Excel tools may ignore the data or blow up in the presence of dates.For broad compatibility with third-party tools, this library supports many
output formats. The specific file type is controlled with bookType option:
| bookType | file ext | container | sheets | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
xlsx | .xlsx | ZIP | multi | Excel 2007+ XML Format |
xlsm | .xlsm | ZIP | multi | Excel 2007+ Macro XML Format |
xlsb | .xlsb | ZIP | multi | Excel 2007+ Binary Format |
biff2 | .xls | none | single | Excel 2.0 Worksheet format |
xlml | .xls | none | multi | Excel 2003-2004 (SpreadsheetML) |
ods | .ods | ZIP | multi | OpenDocument Spreadsheet |
fods | .fods | none | multi | Flat OpenDocument Spreadsheet |
csv | .csv | none | single | Comma Separated Values |
txt | .txt | none | single | UTF-16 Unicode Text (TXT) |
sylk | .sylk | none | single | Symbolic Link (SYLK) |
dif | .dif | none | single | Data Interchange Format (DIF) |
prn | .prn | none | single | Lotus Formatted Text |
compression only applies to formats with ZIP containers.sheet option specifying
the worksheet. If the string is empty, the first worksheet is used.writeFile will automatically guess the output file format based on the file
extension if bookType is not specified. It will choose the first format in
the aforementioned table that matches the extension.The type argument for write mirrors the type argument for read:
type | output |
|---|---|
"base64" | string: base64 encoding of the file |
"binary" | string: binary string (n-th byte is data.charCodeAt(n)) |
"buffer" | nodejs Buffer |
"file" | string: name of file to be written (nodejs only) |
The sheet_to_* functions accept a worksheet and an optional options object.
The *_to_sheet functions accept a data object and an optional options object.
The examples are based on the following worksheet:
XXX| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
1 | S | h | e | e | t | J | S |
2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet takes an array of arrays of JS values and returns a
worksheet resembling the input data. Numbers, Booleans and Strings are stored
as the corresponding styles. Dates are stored as date or numbers. Array holes
and explicit undefined values are skipped. null values may be stubbed. All
other values are stored as strings. The function takes an options argument:
| Option Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dateNF | fmt 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
| cellDates | false | Store dates as type d (default is n) |
| sheetStubs | false | Create cell objects of type z for null values |
To generate the example sheet:
var ws = XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet([
"SheetJS".split(""),
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7],
[2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
]);
XLSX.utils.table_to_sheet takes a table DOM element and returns a worksheet
resembling the input table. Numbers are parsed. All other data will be stored
as strings.
XLSX.utils.table_to_book produces a minimal workbook based on the worksheet.
To generate the example sheet, start with the HTML table:
<table id="sheetjs">
<tr><td>S</td><td>h</td><td>e</td><td>e</td><td>t</td><td>J</td><td>S</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>7</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>8</td></tr>
</table>
To process the table:
var tbl = document.getElementById('sheetjs');
var wb = XLSX.utils.table_to_book(tbl);
Note: XLSX.read can handle HTML represented as strings.
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_formulae generates an array of commands that represent
how a person would enter data into an application. Each entry is of the form
A1-cell-address=formula-or-value. String literals are prefixed with a ' in
accordance with Excel. For the example sheet:
> var o = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_formulae(ws);
> o.filter(function(v, i) { return i % 5 === 0; });
[ 'A1=\'S', 'F1=\'J', 'D2=4', 'B3=3', 'G3=8' ]
As an alternative to the writeFile CSV type, XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv also
produces CSV output. The function takes an options argument:
| Option Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| FS | "," | "Field Separator" delimiter between fields |
| RS | "\n" | "Record Separator" delimiter between rows |
| dateNF | fmt 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
| strip | false | Remove trailing field separators in each record ** |
| blankrows | true | Include blank lines in the CSV output |
strip will remove trailing commas from each line under default FS/RSfalse to skip blank lines.For the example sheet:
> console.log(XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(ws));
S,h,e,e,t,J,S
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
2,3,4,5,6,7,8
> console.log(XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(ws, {FS:"\t"}));
S h e e t J S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_csv(_ws,{FS:":",RS:"|"}));
S:h:e:e:t:J:S|1:2:3:4:5:6:7|2:3:4:5:6:7:8|
The txt output type uses the tab character as the field separator. If the
codepage library is available (included in the full distribution but not core),
the output will be encoded in codepage 1200 and the BOM will be prepended.
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json and the alias XLSX.utils.sheet_to_row_object_array
generate different types of JS objects. The function takes an options argument:
| Option Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| raw | false | Use raw values (true) or formatted strings (false) |
| range | from WS | Override Range (see table below) |
| header | Control output format (see table below) | |
| dateNF | fmt 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
| defval | Use specified value in place of null or undefined | |
| blankrows | ** | Include blank lines in the output ** |
raw only affects cells which have a format code (.z) field or a formatted
text (.w) field.header is specified, the first row is considered a data row; if header
is not specified, the first row is the header row and not considered data.header is not specified, the conversion will automatically disambiguate
header entries by affixing _ and a count starting at 1. For example, if
three columns have header foo the output fields are foo, foo_1, foo_2null values are returned when raw is true but are skipped when false.defval is not specified, null and undefined values are skipped normally.
If specified, all null and undefined points will be filled with defvalheader is 1, the default is to generate blank rows. blankrows must
be set to false to skip blank rows.header is not 1, the default is to skip blank rows. blankrows must
be truthy to generate blank rowsrange is expected to be one of:
range | Description |
|---|---|
| (number) | Use worksheet range but set starting row to the value |
| (string) | Use specified range (A1-style bounded range string) |
| (default) | Use worksheet range (ws['!ref']) |
header is expected to be one of:
header | Description |
|---|---|
1 | Generate an array of arrays |
"A" | Row object keys are literal column labels |
| array of strings | Use specified strings as keys in row objects |
| (default) | Read and disambiguate first row as keys |
If header is not 1, the row object will contain the non-enumerable property
__rowNum__ that represents the row of the sheet corresponding to the entry.
For the example sheet:
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws));
[ { S: 1, h: 2, e: 3, e_1: 4, t: 5, J: 6, S_1: 7 },
{ S: 2, h: 3, e: 4, e_1: 5, t: 6, J: 7, S_1: 8 } ]
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws, {header:1}));
[ [ 'S', 'h', 'e', 'e', 't', 'J', 'S' ],
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ],
[ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ] ]
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws, {header:"A"}));
[ { A: 'S', B: 'h', C: 'e', D: 'e', E: 't', F: 'J', G: 'S' },
{ A: 1, B: 2, C: 3, D: 4, E: 5, F: 6, G: 7 },
{ A: 2, B: 3, C: 4, D: 5, E: 6, F: 7, G: 8 } ]
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws, {header:["A","E","I","O","U","6","9"]}));
[ { '6': 'J', '9': 'S', A: 'S', E: 'h', I: 'e', O: 'e', U: 't' },
{ '6': 6, '9': 7, A: 1, E: 2, I: 3, O: 4, U: 5 },
{ '6': 7, '9': 8, A: 2, E: 3, I: 4, O: 5, U: 6 } ]
Example showing the effect of raw:
> _ws['A2'].w = "1"; // set A2 formatted string value
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws, {header:1}));
[ [ 'S', 'h', 'e', 'e', 't', 'J', 'S' ],
[ '1', 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ], // <-- A2 uses the formatted string
[ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ] ]
> console.log(X.utils.sheet_to_json(_ws, {header:1, raw:true}));
[ [ 'S', 'h', 'e', 'e', 't', 'J', 'S' ],
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ], // <-- A2 uses the raw value
[ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ] ]
Despite the library name xlsx, it supports numerous spreadsheet file formats:
| Format | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|
| Excel Worksheet/Workbook Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
| Excel 2007+ XML Formats (XLSX/XLSM) | :o: | :o: |
| Excel 2007+ Binary Format (XLSB BIFF12) | :o: | :o: |
| Excel 2003-2004 XML Format (XML "SpreadsheetML") | :o: | :o: |
| Excel 97-2004 (XLS BIFF8) | :o: | |
| Excel 5.0/95 (XLS BIFF5) | :o: | |
| Excel 4.0 (XLS/XLW BIFF4) | :o: | |
| Excel 3.0 (XLS BIFF3) | :o: | |
| Excel 2.0/2.1 (XLS BIFF2) | :o: | :o: |
| Excel Supported Text Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
| Delimiter-Separated Values (CSV/TXT) | :o: | :o: |
| Data Interchange Format (DIF) | :o: | :o: |
| Symbolic Link (SYLK/SLK) | :o: | :o: |
| Lotus Formatted Text (PRN) | :o: | :o: |
| UTF-16 Unicode Text (TXT) | :o: | :o: |
| Other Workbook/Worksheet Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
| OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) | :o: | :o: |
| Flat XML ODF Spreadsheet (FODS) | :o: | :o: |
| Uniform Office Format Spreadsheet (标文通 UOS1/UOS2) | :o: | |
| dBASE II/III/IV / Visual FoxPro (DBF) | :o: | |
| Other Common Spreadsheet Output Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
| HTML Tables | :o: |
XLSX and XLSM files are ZIP containers containing a series of XML files in accordance with the Open Packaging Conventions (OPC). The XLSM filetype, almost identical to XLSX, is used for files containing macros.
The format is standardized in ECMA-376 and later in ISO/IEC 29500. Excel does not follow the specification, and there are additional documents discussing how Excel deviates from the specification.
BIFF 2/3 XLS are single-sheet streams of binary records. Excel 4 introduced
the concept of a workbook (XLW files) but also had single-sheet XLS format.
The structure is largely similar to the Lotus 1-2-3 file formats. BIFF5/8/12
extended the format in various ways but largely stuck to the same record format.
There is no official specification for any of these formats. Excel 95 can write files in these formats, so record lengths and fields were backsolved by writing in all of the supported formats and comparing files. Excel 2016 can generate BIFF5 files, enabling a full suite of file tests starting from XLSX or BIFF2.
BIFF8 exclusively uses the Compound File Binary container format, splitting some content into streams within the file. At its core, it still uses an extended version of the binary record format from older versions of BIFF.
The MS-XLS specification covers the basics of the file format, and other
specifications expand on serialization of features like properties.
Predating XLSX, SpreadsheetML files are simple XML files. There is no official and comprehensive specification, although MS has released whitepapers on the format. Since Excel 2016 can generate SpreadsheetML files, backsolving is pretty straightforward.
Introduced in parallel with XLSX, the XLSB filetype combines BIFF architecture with the content separation and ZIP container of XLSX. For the most part nodes in an XLSX sub-file can be mapped to XLSB records in a corresponding sub-file.
The MS-XLSB specification covers the basics of the file format, and other
specifications expand on serialization of features like properties.
ODS is an XML-in-ZIP format akin to XLSX while FODS is an XML format akin to SpreadsheetML. Both are detailed in the OASIS standard, but tools like LO/OO add undocumented extensions.
UOS is a very similar format, and it comes in 2 varieties corresponding to ODS and FODS respectively. For the most part, the difference between the formats lies in the names of tags and attributes.
Excel CSV deviates from RFC4180 in a number of important ways. The generated CSV files should generally work in Excel although they may not work in RFC4180 compatible readers. The parser should generally understand Excel CSV.
Excel TXT uses tab as the delimiter and codepage 1200.
Many older formats supported only one worksheet:
DBF is really a typed table format: each column can only hold one data type and each record omits type information. The parser generates a header row and inserts records starting at the second row of the worksheet.
Multi-file extensions like external memos and tables are currently unsupported, limited by the general ability to read arbitrary files in the web browser.
There is no real documentation. All knowledge was gathered by saving files in various versions of Excel to deduce the meaning of fields.
There is no real documentation, and in fact Excel treats PRN as an output-only file format. Nevertheless we can guess the column widths and reverse-engineer the original layout.
There is no unified definition. Visicalc DIF differs from Lotus DIF, and both differ from Excel DIF. Where ambiguous, the parser/writer follows the expected behavior from Excel.
Excel HTML worksheets include special metadata encoded in styles. For example,
mso-number-format is a localized string containing the number format. Despite
the metadata the output is valid HTML, although it does accept bare & symbols.
make test will run the node-based tests. By default it runs tests on files in
every supported format. To test a specific file type, set FMTS to the format
you want to test. Feature-specific tests are avaialble with make test_misc
$ make test # run full tests
$ make test_xls # only use the XLS test files
$ make test_xlsx # only use the XLSX test files
$ make test_xlsb # only use the XLSB test files
$ make test_xml # only use the XLSB test files
$ make test_ods # only use the XLSB test files
To enable all errors, set the environment variable WTF=1:
$ make test # run full tests
$ WTF=1 make test # enable all error messages
Flow and JSHint/JSCS checks are available:
$ make lint # JSHint and JSCS checks
$ make flow # make lint + Flow checking
The core in-browser tests are available at tests/test.html within this repo.
Start a local server and navigate to that directory to run the tests.
To run the full in-browser tests, clone the repo for
oss.sheetjs.com and replace
the xlsx.js file (then fire up the browser and go to stress.html):
$ cp xlsx.js ../SheetJS.github.io
$ cd ../SheetJS.github.io
$ simplehttpserver # or "python -mSimpleHTTPServer" or "serve"
$ open -a Chromium.app http://localhost:8000/stress.html
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.
Due to the precarious nature of the Open Specifications Promise, it is very important to ensure code is cleanroom. Consult CONTRIBUTING.md
The xlsx.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 xlsx.js file exactly. The simplest way to test is to add the script:
$ git add xlsx.js
$ make clean
$ make
$ git diff xlsx.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.
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.
ISO/IEC 29500:2012(E) "Information technology — Document description and processing languages — Office Open XML File Formats"
OSP-covered specifications:
Open Document Format for Office Applications Version 1.2 (29 September 2011)
Worksheet File Format (From Lotus) December 1984
FAQs
SheetJS Spreadsheet data parser and writer
The npm package xlsx receives a total of 445,391 weekly downloads. As such, xlsx popularity was classified as popular.
We found that xlsx 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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