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.
This is the community version. We also offer a pro version with performance enhancements, additional features like styling, and dedicated support.
Community Translations of this README:
Browser Test and Support Matrix
Supported File Formats
Expand to show Table of Contents
- Installation
- Philosophy
- Parsing Workbooks
- Working with the Workbook
- Writing Workbooks
- Interface
- Common Spreadsheet Format
- Parsing Options
- Writing Options
- Utility Functions
- File Formats
- Testing
- Contributing
- License
- References
In the browser, just add a script tag:
<script lang="javascript" src="dist/xlsx.full.min.js"></script>
CDN Availability (click to show)
CDN | URL |
---|---|
unpkg |
https://unpkg.com/xlsx/ |
jsDelivr |
https://jsdelivr.com/package/npm/xlsx |
CDNjs |
https://cdnjs.com/libraries/xlsx |
packd |
https://bundle.run/xlsx@latest?name=XLSX |
unpkg
makes the latest version available at:
<script src="https://unpkg.com/xlsx/dist/xlsx.full.min.js"></script>
With npm:
$ npm install xlsx
With bower:
$ bower install js-xlsx
The demos
directory includes sample projects for:
Frameworks and APIs
angularjs
angular and ionic
knockout
meteor
react and react-native
vue 2.x and weex
XMLHttpRequest and fetch
nodejs server
databases and key/value stores
typed arrays and math
Bundlers and Tooling
Platforms and Integrations
electron application
nw.js application
Chrome / Chromium extensions
Adobe ExtendScript
Headless Browsers
canvas-datagrid
x-spreadsheet
Swift JSC and other engines
"serverless" functions
internet explorer
Other examples are included in the showcase.
Optional features (click to show)
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
A slimmer build is generated at dist/xlsx.mini.min.js
. Compared to full build:
- codepage library skipped (no support for XLS encodings)
- XLSX compression option not currently available
- no support for XLSB / XLS / Lotus 1-2-3 / SpreadsheetML 2003
- node stream utils removed
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 the library uses functions like Array#forEach
, older browsers require
shims to provide missing functions.
To use the shim, add the shim before the script tag that loads xlsx.js
:
<!-- add the shim first -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="shim.min.js"></script>
<!-- after the shim is referenced, add the library -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="xlsx.full.min.js"></script>
The script also includes IE_LoadFile
and IE_SaveFile
for loading and saving
files in Internet Explorer versions 6-9. The xlsx.extendscript.js
script
bundles the shim in a format suitable for Photoshop and other Adobe products.
Philosophy (click to show)
Prior to SheetJS, APIs for processing spreadsheet files were format-specific. Third-party libraries either supported one format, or they involved a separate set of classes for each supported file type. Even though XLSB was introduced in Excel 2007, nothing outside of SheetJS or Excel supported the format.
To promote a format-agnostic view, SheetJS starts from a pure-JS representation that we call the "Common Spreadsheet Format". Emphasizing a uniform object representation enables new features like format conversion (reading an XLSX template and saving as XLS) and circumvents the mess of classes. By abstracting the complexities of the various formats, tools need not worry about the specific file type!
A simple object representation combined with careful coding practices enables use cases in older browsers and in alternative environments like ExtendScript and Web Workers. It is always tempting to use the latest and greatest features, but they tend to require the latest versions of browsers, limiting usability.
Utility functions capture common use cases like generating JS objects or HTML. Most simple operations should only require a few lines of code. More complex operations generally should be straightforward to implement.
Excel pushes the XLSX format as default starting in Excel 2007. However, there are other formats with more appealing properties. For example, the XLSB format is spiritually similar to XLSX but files often tend up taking less than half the space and open much faster! Even though an XLSX writer is available, other format writers are available so users can take advantage of the unique characteristics of each format.
The primary focus of the Community Edition is correct data interchange, focused on extracting data from any compatible data representation and exporting data in various formats suitable for any third party interface.
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:
nodejs read a file (click to show)
readFile
is only available in server environments. Browsers have no API for
reading arbitrary files given a path, so another strategy must be used.
if(typeof require !== 'undefined') XLSX = require('xlsx');
var workbook = XLSX.readFile('test.xlsx');
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
Photoshop ExtendScript read a file (click to show)
readFile
wraps the File
logic in Photoshop and other ExtendScript targets.
The specified path should be an absolute path:
#include "xlsx.extendscript.js"
/* Read test.xlsx from the Documents folder */
var workbook = XLSX.readFile(Folder.myDocuments + '/' + 'test.xlsx');
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
The extendscript
demo includes a more complex example.
Browser read TABLE element from page (click to show)
The table_to_book
and table_to_sheet
utility functions take a DOM TABLE
element and iterate through the child nodes.
var workbook = XLSX.utils.table_to_book(document.getElementById('tableau'));
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
Multiple tables on a web page can be converted to individual worksheets:
/* create new workbook */
var workbook = XLSX.utils.book_new();
/* convert table 'table1' to worksheet named "Sheet1" */
var ws1 = XLSX.utils.table_to_sheet(document.getElementById('table1'));
XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, ws1, "Sheet1");
/* convert table 'table2' to worksheet named "Sheet2" */
var ws2 = XLSX.utils.table_to_sheet(document.getElementById('table2'));
XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(workbook, ws2, "Sheet2");
/* workbook now has 2 worksheets */
Alternatively, the HTML code can be extracted and parsed:
var htmlstr = document.getElementById('tableau').outerHTML;
var workbook = XLSX.read(htmlstr, {type:'string'});
Browser download file (ajax) (click to show)
Note: for a more complete example that works in older browsers, check the demo
at http://oss.sheetjs.com/sheetjs/ajax.html. The xhr
demo
includes more examples with XMLHttpRequest
and fetch
.
var url = "http://oss.sheetjs.com/test_files/formula_stress_test.xlsx";
/* set up async GET request */
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("GET", url, true);
req.responseType = "arraybuffer";
req.onload = function(e) {
var workbook = XLSX.read(req.response);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
}
req.send();
Browser drag-and-drop (click to show)
For modern browsers, Blob#arrayBuffer
can read data from files:
async function handleDropAsync(e) {
e.stopPropagation(); e.preventDefault();
const f = evt.dataTransfer.files[0];
const data = await f.arrayBuffer();
const workbook = XLSX.read(data);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
}
drop_dom_element.addEventListener('drop', handleDropAsync, false);
For maximal compatibility, the FileReader
API should be used:
function handleDrop(e) {
e.stopPropagation(); e.preventDefault();
var f = e.dataTransfer.files[0];
var reader = new FileReader();
reader.onload = function(e) {
var workbook = XLSX.read(e.target.result);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
};
reader.readAsArrayBuffer(f);
}
drop_dom_element.addEventListener('drop', handleDrop, false);
Browser file upload form element (click to show)
Data from file input elements can be processed using the same APIs as in the drag-and-drop example.
Using Blob#arrayBuffer
:
async function handleFileAsync(e) {
const file = evt.target.files[0];
const data = await file.arrayBuffer();
const workbook = XLSX.read(data);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
}
input_dom_element.addEventListener('change', handleFileAsync, false);
Using FileReader
:
function handleFile(e) {
var files = e.target.files, f = files[0];
var reader = new FileReader();
reader.onload = function(e) {
var workbook = XLSX.read(e.target.result);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook HERE */
};
reader.readAsArrayBuffer(f);
}
input_dom_element.addEventListener('change', handleFile, false);
The oldie
demo shows an IE-compatible fallback scenario.
More specialized cases, including mobile app file processing, are covered in the included demos
- https://oss.sheetjs.com/sheetjs/ HTML5 File API / Base64 Text / Web Workers
Note that older versions of IE do not support HTML5 File API, so the Base64 mode is used for testing.
Get Base64 encoding on OSX / Windows (click to show)
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/sheetjs/ajax.html XMLHttpRequest
Why is there no Streaming Read API? (click to show)
The most common and interesting formats (XLS, XLSX/M, XLSB, ODS) are ultimately ZIP or CFB containers of files. Neither format puts the directory structure at the beginning of the file: ZIP files place the Central Directory records at the end of the logical file, while CFB files can place the storage info anywhere in the file! As a result, to properly handle these formats, a streaming function would have to buffer the entire file before commencing. That belies the expectations of streaming, so we do not provide any streaming read API.
When dealing with Readable Streams, the easiest approach is to buffer the stream and process the whole thing at the end. This can be done with a temporary file or by explicitly concatenating the stream:
Explicitly concatenating streams (click to show)
var fs = require('fs');
var XLSX = require('xlsx');
function process_RS(stream/*:ReadStream*/, cb/*:(wb:Workbook)=>void*/)/*:void*/{
var buffers = [];
stream.on('data', function(data) { buffers.push(data); });
stream.on('end', function() {
var buffer = Buffer.concat(buffers);
var workbook = XLSX.read(buffer, {type:"buffer"});
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook IN THE CALLBACK */
cb(workbook);
});
}
More robust solutions are available using modules like concat-stream
.
Writing to filesystem first (click to show)
This example uses tempfile
to generate file names:
var fs = require('fs'), tempfile = require('tempfile');
var XLSX = require('xlsx');
function process_RS(stream/*:ReadStream*/, cb/*:(wb:Workbook)=>void*/)/*:void*/{
var fname = tempfile('.sheetjs');
console.log(fname);
var ostream = fs.createWriteStream(fname);
stream.pipe(ostream);
ostream.on('finish', function() {
var workbook = XLSX.readFile(fname);
fs.unlinkSync(fname);
/* DO SOMETHING WITH workbook IN THE CALLBACK */
cb(workbook);
});
}
The full object format is described later in this README.
Reading a specific cell (click to show)
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);
Adding a new worksheet to a workbook (click to show)
This example uses XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet
to make a
sheet and XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet
to append the sheet to the workbook:
var ws_name = "SheetJS";
/* make worksheet */
var ws_data = [
[ "S", "h", "e", "e", "t", "J", "S" ],
[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
];
var ws = XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet(ws_data);
/* Add the worksheet to the workbook */
XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(wb, ws, ws_name);
Creating a new workbook from scratch (click to show)
The workbook object contains a SheetNames
array of names and a Sheets
object
mapping sheet names to sheet objects. The XLSX.utils.book_new
utility function
creates a new workbook object:
/* create a new blank workbook */
var wb = XLSX.utils.book_new();
The new workbook is blank and contains no worksheets. The write functions will error if the workbook is empty.
-
https://sheetjs.com/demos/modify.html read + modify + write files
-
https://github.com/SheetJS/sheetjs/blob/HEAD/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_txt
generates UTF16 Formatted TextXLSX.utils.sheet_to_html
generates HTMLXLSX.utils.sheet_to_json
generates an array of objectsXLSX.utils.sheet_to_formulae
generates a list of formulae
For 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:
nodejs write a file (click to show)
XLSX.writeFile
uses fs.writeFileSync
in server environments:
if(typeof require !== 'undefined') XLSX = require('xlsx');
/* output format determined by filename */
XLSX.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsb');
/* at this point, out.xlsb is a file that you can distribute */
Photoshop ExtendScript write a file (click to show)
writeFile
wraps the File
logic in Photoshop and other ExtendScript targets.
The specified path should be an absolute path:
#include "xlsx.extendscript.js"
/* output format determined by filename */
XLSX.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsx');
/* at this point, out.xlsx is a file that you can distribute */
The extendscript
demo includes a more complex example.
Browser add TABLE element to page (click to show)
The sheet_to_html
utility function generates HTML code that can be added to
any DOM element.
var worksheet = workbook.Sheets[workbook.SheetNames[0]];
var container = document.getElementById('tableau');
container.innerHTML = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_html(worksheet);
Browser upload file (ajax) (click to show)
A complete example using XHR is included in the XHR demo, along with examples for fetch and wrapper libraries. This example assumes the server can handle Base64-encoded files (see the demo for a basic nodejs server):
/* in this example, send a base64 string to the server */
var wopts = { bookType:'xlsx', bookSST:false, type:'base64' };
var wbout = XLSX.write(workbook,wopts);
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("POST", "/upload", true);
var formdata = new FormData();
formdata.append('file', 'test.xlsx'); // <-- server expects `file` to hold name
formdata.append('data', wbout); // <-- `data` holds the base64-encoded data
req.send(formdata);
Browser save file (click to show)
XLSX.writeFile
wraps a few techniques for triggering a file save:
URL
browser API creates an object URL for the file, which the library uses by creating a link and forcing a click. It is supported in modern browsers.msSaveBlob
is an IE10+ API for triggering a file save.IE_FileSave
uses VBScript and ActiveX to write a file in IE6+ for Windows XP and Windows 7. The shim must be included in the containing HTML page.
There is no standard way to determine if the actual file has been downloaded.
/* output format determined by filename */
XLSX.writeFile(workbook, 'out.xlsb');
/* at this point, out.xlsb will have been downloaded */
Browser save file (compatibility) (click to show)
XLSX.writeFile
techniques work for most modern browsers as well as older IE.
For much older browsers, there are workarounds implemented by wrapper libraries.
FileSaver.js
implements saveAs
.
Note: XLSX.writeFile
will automatically call saveAs
if available.
/* bookType can be any supported output type */
var wopts = { bookType:'xlsx', bookSST:false, type:'array' };
var wbout = XLSX.write(workbook,wopts);
/* the saveAs call downloads a file on the local machine */
saveAs(new Blob([wbout],{type:"application/octet-stream"}), "test.xlsx");
Downloadify
uses a Flash SWF button
to generate local files, suitable for environments where ActiveX is unavailable:
Downloadify.create(id,{
/* other options are required! read the downloadify docs for more info */
filename: "test.xlsx",
data: function() { return XLSX.write(wb, {bookType:"xlsx", type:'base64'}); },
append: false,
dataType: 'base64'
});
The oldie
demo shows an IE-compatible fallback scenario.
The included demos cover mobile apps and other special deployments.
- http://sheetjs.com/demos/table.html exporting an HTML table
- http://sheetjs.com/demos/writexlsx.html generates a simple file
The streaming write functions are available in the XLSX.stream
object. They
take the same arguments as the normal write functions but return a Readable
Stream. They are only exposed in NodeJS.
XLSX.stream.to_csv
is the streaming version ofXLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv
.XLSX.stream.to_html
is the streaming version ofXLSX.utils.sheet_to_html
.XLSX.stream.to_json
is the streaming version ofXLSX.utils.sheet_to_json
.
nodejs convert to CSV and write file (click to show)
var output_file_name = "out.csv";
var stream = XLSX.stream.to_csv(worksheet);
stream.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(output_file_name));
nodejs write JSON stream to screen (click to show)
/* to_json returns an object-mode stream */
var stream = XLSX.stream.to_json(worksheet, {raw:true});
/* the following stream converts JS objects to text via JSON.stringify */
var conv = new Transform({writableObjectMode:true});
conv._transform = function(obj, e, cb){ cb(null, JSON.stringify(obj) + "\n"); };
stream.pipe(conv); conv.pipe(process.stdout);
https://github.com/sheetjs/sheetaki pipes write streams to nodejs response.
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
.
In browser-based environments, it will attempt to force a client-side download.
XLSX.writeFileAsync(wb, filename, o, cb)
attempts to write wb
to filename
.
If o
is omitted, the writer will use the third argument as the callback.
XLSX.stream
contains a set of streaming write functions.
Write options are described in the Writing Options section.
Utilities are available in the XLSX.utils
object and are described in the
Utility Functions section:
Importing:
aoa_to_sheet
converts an array of arrays of JS data to a worksheet.json_to_sheet
converts an array of JS objects to a worksheet.table_to_sheet
converts a DOM TABLE element to a worksheet.sheet_add_aoa
adds an array of arrays of JS data to an existing worksheet.sheet_add_json
adds an array of JS objects to an existing worksheet.
Exporting:
sheet_to_json
converts a worksheet object to an array of JSON objects.sheet_to_csv
generates delimiter-separated-values output.sheet_to_txt
generates UTF16 formatted text.sheet_to_html
generates HTML output.sheet_to_formulae
generates a list of the formulae (with value fallbacks).
Cell and cell address manipulation:
format_cell
generates the text value for a cell (using number formats).encode_row / decode_row
converts between 0-indexed rows and 1-indexed rows.encode_col / decode_col
converts between 0-indexed columns and column names.encode_cell / decode_cell
converts cell addresses.encode_range / decode_range
converts cell ranges.
SheetJS 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}}
.
Utility functions perform a row-major order walk traversal of a sheet 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};
/* if an A1-style address is needed, encode the address */
var cell_ref = XLSX.utils.encode_cell(cell_address);
}
}
Cell objects are plain JS objects with keys and values following the convention:
Key | Description |
---|---|
v |
raw value (see Data Types section for more info) |
w |
formatted text (if applicable) |
t |
type: b Boolean, e Error, n Number, d Date, s Text, z Stub |
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
value property, interpreted based on the t
type property. This separation allows for representation of numbers as well as
numeric text. There are 6 valid cell types:
Type | Description |
---|---|
b |
Boolean: value interpreted as JS boolean |
e |
Error: value is a numeric code and w property stores common name ** |
n |
Number: value is a JS number ** |
d |
Date: value is a JS Date object or string to be parsed as Date ** |
s |
Text: value interpreted as JS string and written as text ** |
z |
Stub: blank stub cell that is ignored by data processing utilities ** |
Error values and interpretation (click to show)
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. The library does not correct for this error.
Type s
is the String type. Values are explicitly stored as text. Excel will
interpret these cells as "number stored as text". Generated Excel files
automatically suppress that class of error, but other formats may elicit errors.
Type z
represents blank stub cells. They are generated in cases where cells
have no assigned value but hold comments or other metadata. They are ignored by
the core library data processing utility functions. By default these cells are
not generated; the parser sheetStubs
option must be set to true
.
Excel Date Code details (click to show)
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.
Time Zones and Dates (click to show)
Excel has no native concept of universal time. All times are specified in the local time zone. Excel limitations prevent specifying true absolute dates.
Following Excel, this library treats all dates as relative to local time zone.
Epochs: 1900 and 1904 (click to show)
Excel supports two epochs (January 1 1900 and January 1 1904).
The workbook's epoch can be determined by examining the workbook's
wb.Workbook.WBProps.date1904
property:
!!(((wb.Workbook||{}).WBProps||{}).date1904)
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 includedFunctions 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 atws['!fullref']
-
sheet['!margins']
: Object representing the page margins. The default values follow Excel's "normal" preset. Excel also has a "wide" and a "narrow" preset but they are stored as raw measurements. The main properties are listed below:
Page margin details (click to show)
key | description | "normal" | "wide" | "narrow" |
---|---|---|---|---|
left |
left margin (inches) | 0.7 |
1.0 |
0.25 |
right |
right margin (inches) | 0.7 |
1.0 |
0.25 |
top |
top margin (inches) | 0.75 |
1.0 |
0.75 |
bottom |
bottom margin (inches) | 0.75 |
1.0 |
0.75 |
header |
header margin (inches) | 0.3 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
footer |
footer margin (inches) | 0.3 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
/* Set worksheet sheet to "normal" */
ws["!margins"]={left:0.7, right:0.7, top:0.75,bottom:0.75,header:0.3,footer:0.3}
/* Set worksheet sheet to "wide" */
ws["!margins"]={left:1.0, right:1.0, top:1.0, bottom:1.0, header:0.5,footer:0.5}
/* Set worksheet sheet to "narrow" */
ws["!margins"]={left:0.25,right:0.25,top:0.75,bottom:0.75,header:0.3,footer:0.3}
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 thewpx
field, character width in thewch
field, and the maximum digit width in theMDW
field. -
ws['!rows']
: array of row properties objects as explained later in the docs. Each row object encodes properties including row height and visibility. -
ws['!merges']
: array of range objects corresponding to the merged cells in the worksheet. Plain text formats do not support 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. -
ws['!outline']
: configure how outlines should behave. Options default to the default settings in Excel 2019:
key | Excel feature | default |
---|---|---|
above |
Uncheck "Summary rows below detail" | false |
left |
Uncheck "Summary rows to the right of detail" | false |
ws['!protect']
: object of write sheet protection properties. Thepassword
key specifies the password for formats that support password-protected sheets (XLSX/XLSB/XLS). The writer uses the XOR obfuscation method. The following keys control the sheet protection -- set tofalse
to enable a feature when sheet is locked or set totrue
to disable a feature:
Worksheet Protection Details (click to show)
key | feature (true=disabled / false=enabled) | default |
---|---|---|
selectLockedCells |
Select locked cells | enabled |
selectUnlockedCells |
Select unlocked cells | enabled |
formatCells |
Format cells | disabled |
formatColumns |
Format columns | disabled |
formatRows |
Format rows | disabled |
insertColumns |
Insert columns | disabled |
insertRows |
Insert rows | disabled |
insertHyperlinks |
Insert hyperlinks | disabled |
deleteColumns |
Delete columns | disabled |
deleteRows |
Delete rows | disabled |
sort |
Sort | disabled |
autoFilter |
Filter | disabled |
pivotTables |
Use PivotTable reports | disabled |
objects |
Edit objects | enabled |
scenarios |
Edit scenarios | enabled |
ws['!autofilter']
: AutoFilter object following the schema:
type AutoFilter = {
ref:string; // A-1 based range representing the AutoFilter table range
}
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.
Macrosheets are represented as standard sheets. They are distinguished with the
!type
property set to "macro"
.
Dialogsheets are represented as standard sheets. They are distinguished with the
!type
property set to "dialog"
.
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.Workbook
stores workbook-level attributes.
The various file formats use different internal names for file properties. The
workbook Props
object normalizes the names:
File Properties (click to show)
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";
Writers will process the Props
key of the options object:
/* force the Author to be "SheetJS" */
XLSX.write(wb, {Props:{Author:"SheetJS"}});
wb.Workbook
stores workbook-level attributes.
wb.Workbook.Names
is an array of defined name objects which have the keys:
Defined Name Properties (click to show)
Key | Description |
---|---|
Sheet |
Name scope. Sheet Index (0 = first sheet) or null (Workbook) |
Name |
Case-sensitive name. Standard rules apply ** |
Ref |
A1-style Reference ("Sheet1!$A$1:$D$20" ) |
Comment |
Comment (only applicable for XLS/XLSX/XLSB) |
Excel allows two sheet-scoped defined names to share the same name. However, a sheet-scoped name cannot collide with a workbook-scope name. Workbook writers may not enforce this constraint.
wb.Workbook.Views
is an array of workbook view objects which have the keys:
Key | Description |
---|---|
RTL |
If true, display right-to-left |
wb.Workbook.WBProps
holds other workbook properties:
Key | Description |
---|---|
CodeName |
VBA Project Workbook Code Name |
date1904 |
epoch: 0/false for 1900 system, 1/true for 1904 |
filterPrivacy |
Warn or strip personally identifying info on save |
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 =
.
Representation of A1=1, A2=2, A3=A1+A2 (click to show)
{
"!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:
Formula without known value (click to show)
{
"!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.
Array Formula examples (click to show)
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 specifies the formula. 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 Utility Function (click to show)
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 (click to show)
Storage Representation | Formats | Read | Write |
---|---|---|---|
A1-style strings | XLSX | β | β |
RC-style strings | XLML and plain text | β | β |
BIFF Parsed formulae | XLSB and all XLS formats | β | |
OpenFormula formulae | ODS/FODS/UOS | β | β |
Lotus Parsed formulae | All Lotus WK_ formats | β |
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 and Lotus Parsed formulae have to be explicitly unwound. OpenFormula formulae can be converted with regular expressions.
The !cols
array in each worksheet, if present, is a collection of ColInfo
objects which have the following properties:
type ColInfo = {
/* visibility */
hidden?: boolean; // if true, the column is hidden
/* column width is specified in one of the following ways: */
wpx?: number; // width in screen pixels
width?: number; // width in Excel's "Max Digit Width", width*256 is integral
wch?: number; // width in characters
/* other fields for preserving features from files */
level?: number; // 0-indexed outline / group level
MDW?: number; // Excel's "Max Digit Width" unit, always integral
};
Why are there three width types? (click to show)
There are three different width types corresponding to the three different ways spreadsheets store column widths:
SYLK and other plain text formats use raw character count. Contemporaneous tools like Visicalc and Multiplan were character based. Since the characters had the same width, it sufficed to store a count. This tradition was continued into the BIFF formats.
SpreadsheetML (2003) tried to align with HTML by standardizing on screen pixel count throughout the file. Column widths, row heights, and other measures use pixels. When the pixel and character counts do not align, Excel rounds values.
XLSX internally stores column widths in a nebulous "Max Digit Width" form. The Max Digit Width is the width of the largest digit when rendered (generally the "0" character is the widest). 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. This represents a hybrid approach.
Read functions attempt to populate all three properties. Write functions will
try to cycle specified values to the desired type. In order to avoid potential
conflicts, manipulation should delete the other properties first. For example,
when changing the pixel width, delete the wch
and width
properties.
Implementation details (click to show)
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.
Even though all of the information is made available, writers are expected to follow the priority order:
- use
width
field if available - use
wpx
pixel width if available - use
wch
character count if available
The !rows
array in each worksheet, if present, is a collection of RowInfo
objects which have the following properties:
type RowInfo = {
/* visibility */
hidden?: boolean; // if true, the row is hidden
/* row height is specified in one of the following ways: */
hpx?: number; // height in screen pixels
hpt?: number; // height in points
level?: number; // 0-indexed outline / group level
};
Note: Excel UI displays the base outline level as 1
and the max level as 8
.
The level
field stores the base outline as 0
and the max level as 7
.
Implementation details (click to show)
Excel internally stores row heights in points. The default resolution is 72 DPI or 96 PPI, so the pixel and point size should agree. For different resolutions they may not agree, so the library separates the concepts.
Even though all of the information is made available, writers are expected to follow the priority order:
- use
hpx
pixel height if available - use
hpt
point height if available
The cell.w
formatted text for each cell is produced from cell.v
and cell.z
format. If the format is not specified, the Excel General
format is used.
The format can either be specified as a string or as an index into the format
table. Parsers are expected to populate workbook.SSF
with the number format
table. Writers are expected to serialize the table.
Custom tools should ensure that the local table has each used format string somewhere in the table. Excel convention mandates that the custom formats start at index 164. The following example creates a custom format from scratch:
New worksheet with custom format (click to show)
var wb = {
SheetNames: ["Sheet1"],
Sheets: {
Sheet1: {
"!ref":"A1:C1",
A1: { t:"n", v:10000 }, // <-- General format
B1: { t:"n", v:10000, z: "0%" }, // <-- Builtin format
C1: { t:"n", v:10000, z: "\"T\"\ #0.00" } // <-- Custom format
}
}
}
The rules are slightly different from how Excel displays custom number formats.
In particular, literal characters must be wrapped in double quotes or preceded
by a backslash. For more info, see the Excel documentation article
Create or delete a custom number format
or ECMA-376 18.8.31 (Number Formats)
Default Number Formats (click to show)
The default formats are listed in ECMA-376 18.8.30:
ID | Format |
---|---|
0 | General |
1 | 0 |
2 | 0.00 |
3 | #,##0 |
4 | #,##0.00 |
9 | 0% |
10 | 0.00% |
11 | 0.00E+00 |
12 | # ?/? |
13 | # ??/?? |
14 | m/d/yy (see below) |
15 | d-mmm-yy |
16 | d-mmm |
17 | mmm-yy |
18 | h:mm AM/PM |
19 | h:mm:ss AM/PM |
20 | h:mm |
21 | h:mm:ss |
22 | m/d/yy h:mm |
37 | #,##0 ;(#,##0) |
38 | #,##0 ;[Red](#,##0) |
39 | #,##0.00;(#,##0.00) |
40 | #,##0.00;[Red](#,##0.00) |
45 | mm:ss |
46 | [h]:mm:ss |
47 | mmss.0 |
48 | ##0.0E+0 |
49 | @ |
Format 14 (m/d/yy
) is localized by Excel: even though the file specifies that
number format, it will be drawn differently based on system settings. It makes
sense when the producer and consumer of files are in the same locale, but that
is not always the case over the Internet. To get around this ambiguity, parse
functions accept the dateNF
option to override the interpretation of that
specific format string.
Format Support (click to show)
Cell Hyperlinks: XLSX/M, XLSB, BIFF8 XLS, XLML, ODS
Tooltips: XLSX/M, XLSB, BIFF8 XLS, XLML
Hyperlinks 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
https://sheetjs.com with the tip "Find us @ SheetJS.com!"
:
ws['A1'].l = { Target:"https://sheetjs.com", Tooltip:"Find us @ SheetJS.com!" };
Note that Excel does not automatically style hyperlinks -- they will generally be displayed as normal text.
Remote Links
HTTP / HTTPS links can be used directly:
ws['A2'].l = { Target:"https://docs.sheetjs.com/#hyperlinks" };
ws['A3'].l = { Target:"http://localhost:7262/yes_localhost_works" };
Excel also supports mailto
email links with subject line:
ws['A4'].l = { Target:"mailto:ignored@dev.null" };
ws['A5'].l = { Target:"mailto:ignored@dev.null?subject=Test Subject" };
Local Links
Links to absolute paths should use the file://
URI scheme:
ws['B1'].l = { Target:"file:///SheetJS/t.xlsx" }; /* Link to /SheetJS/t.xlsx */
ws['B2'].l = { Target:"file:///c:/SheetJS.xlsx" }; /* Link to c:\SheetJS.xlsx */
Links to relative paths can be specified without a scheme:
ws['B3'].l = { Target:"SheetJS.xlsb" }; /* Link to SheetJS.xlsb */
ws['B4'].l = { Target:"../SheetJS.xlsm" }; /* Link to ../SheetJS.xlsm */
Relative Paths have undefined behavior in the SpreadsheetML 2003 format. Excel
2019 will treat a ..\
parent mark as two levels up.
Internal Links
Links where the target is a cell or range or defined name in the same workbook ("Internal Links") are marked with a leading hash character:
ws['C1'].l = { Target:"#E2" }; /* Link to cell E2 */
ws['C2'].l = { Target:"#Sheet2!E2" }; /* Link to cell E2 in sheet Sheet2 */
ws['C3'].l = { Target:"#SomeDefinedName" }; /* Link to Defined Name */
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 plain text 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.
To mark a comment as normally hidden, set the hidden
property:
if(!ws.A1.c) ws.A1.c = [];
ws.A1.c.push({a:"SheetJS", t:"This comment is visible"});
if(!ws.A2.c) ws.A2.c = [];
ws.A2.c.hidden = true;
ws.A2.c.push({a:"SheetJS", t:"This comment will be hidden"});
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 sheet props array.
More details (click to show)
Value | Definition |
---|---|
0 | Visible |
1 | Hidden |
2 | Very Hidden |
With https://rawgit.com/SheetJS/test_files/HEAD/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 ] ]
VBA Macros are stored in a special data blob that is exposed in the vbaraw
property of the workbook object when the bookVBA
option is true
. They are
supported in XLSM
, XLSB
, and BIFF8 XLS
formats. The supported format
writers automatically insert the data blobs if it is present in the workbook and
associate with the worksheet names.
Custom Code Names (click to show)
The workbook code name is stored in wb.Workbook.WBProps.CodeName
. By default,
Excel will write ThisWorkbook
or a translated phrase like DieseArbeitsmappe
.
Worksheet and Chartsheet code names are in the worksheet properties object at
wb.Workbook.Sheets[i].CodeName
. Macrosheets and Dialogsheets are ignored.
The readers and writers preserve the code names, but they have to be manually set when adding a VBA blob to a different workbook.
Macrosheets (click to show)
Older versions of Excel also supported a non-VBA "macrosheet" sheet type that
stored automation commands. These are exposed in objects with the !type
property set to "macro"
.
Detecting macros in workbooks (click to show)
The vbaraw
field will only be set if macros are present, so testing is simple:
function wb_has_macro(wb/*:workbook*/)/*:boolean*/ {
if(!!wb.vbaraw) return true;
const sheets = wb.SheetNames.map((n) => wb.Sheets[n]);
return sheets.some((ws) => !!ws && ws['!type']=='macro');
}
The exported read
and readFile
functions accept an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
type |
Input data encoding (see Input Type below) | |
raw |
false | If true, plain text parsing will not parse values ** |
codepage |
If specified, use code page when appropriate ** | |
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 |
cellText |
true | Generated formatted text to the .w field |
cellDates |
false | Store dates as type d (default is n ) |
dateNF |
If specified, use the string for date code 14 ** | |
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, copy VBA blob to vbaraw field ** |
password |
"" | If defined and file is encrypted, use password ** |
WTF |
false | If true, throw errors on unexpected file features ** |
sheets |
If specified, only parse specified sheets ** | |
PRN |
false | If true, allow parsing of PRN files ** |
xlfn |
false | If true, preserve _xlfn. prefixes in formulae ** |
FS |
DSV Field Separator override |
- Even if
cellNF
is false, formatted text will be generated and saved to.w
- In some cases, sheets may be parsed even if
bookSheets
is false. - Excel aggressively tries to interpret values from CSV and other plain text.
This leads to surprising behavior! The
raw
option suppresses value parsing. bookSheets
andbookProps
combine to give both sets of informationDeps
will be an empty object ifbookDeps
is falsebookFiles
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 containers
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)- By default all worksheets are parsed.
sheets
restricts based on input type:- number: zero-based index of worksheet to parse (
0
is first worksheet) - string: name of worksheet to parse (case insensitive)
- array of numbers and strings to select multiple worksheets.
- number: zero-based index of worksheet to parse (
bookVBA
merely exposes the raw VBA CFB object. It does not parse the data. XLSM and XLSB store the VBA CFB object inxl/vbaProject.bin
. BIFF8 XLS mixes the VBA entries alongside the core Workbook entry, so the library generates a new XLSB-compatible blob from the XLS CFB container.codepage
is applied to BIFF2 - BIFF5 files withoutCodePage
records and to CSV files without BOM intype:"binary"
. BIFF8 XLS always defaults to 1200.PRN
affects parsing of text files without a common delimiter character.- Currently only XOR encryption is supported. Unsupported error will be thrown for files employing other encryption methods.
- Newer Excel functions are serialized with the
_xlfn.
prefix, hidden from the user. SheetJS will strip_xlfn.
normally. Thexlfn
option preserves them. - WTF is mainly for development. By default, the parser will suppress read
errors on single worksheets, allowing you to read from the worksheets that do
parse properly. Setting
WTF:true
forces those errors to be thrown.
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 (byte n is data.charCodeAt(n) ) |
"string" |
string: JS string (characters interpreted as UTF8) |
"buffer" |
nodejs Buffer |
"array" |
array: array of 8-bit unsigned int (byte n is data[n] ) |
"file" |
string: path of file that will be read (nodejs only) |
Implementation Details (click to show)
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 or WQ3/QPW |
0x09 |
BIFF Stream | BIFF 2/3/4/5 |
0x3C |
XML/HTML | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
0x50 |
ZIP Archive | XLSB or XLSX/M or ODS or UOS2 or plain text |
0x49 |
Plain Text | SYLK or plain text |
0x54 |
Plain Text | DIF or plain text |
0xEF |
UTF8 Encoded | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
0xFF |
UTF16 Encoded | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
0x00 |
Record Stream | Lotus WK* or Quattro Pro or plain text |
0x7B |
Plain text | RTF or plain text |
0x0A |
Plain text | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
0x0D |
Plain text | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
0x20 |
Plain text | SpreadsheetML / Flat ODS / UOS1 / HTML / plain text |
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)
Plain text format guessing follows the priority order:
Format | Test |
---|---|
XML | <?xml appears in the first 1024 characters |
HTML | starts with < and HTML tags appear in the first 1024 characters * |
XML | starts with < and the first tag is valid |
RTF | starts with {\rt |
DSV | starts with /sep=.$/ , separator is the specified character |
DSV | more unquoted ` |
DSV | more unquoted ; chars than \t or , in the first 1024 |
TSV | more unquoted \t chars than , chars in the first 1024 |
CSV | one of the first 1024 characters is a comma "," |
ETH | starts with socialcalc:version: |
PRN | PRN option is set to true |
CSV | (fallback) |
- HTML tags include:
html
,table
,head
,meta
,script
,style
,div
Why are random text files valid? (click to show)
Excel is extremely aggressive in reading files. Adding an XLS extension to any display text file (where the only characters are ANSI display chars) tricks Excel into thinking that the file is potentially a CSV or TSV file, even if it is only one column! This library attempts to replicate that behavior.
The best approach is to validate the desired worksheet and ensure it has the expected number of rows or columns. Extracting the range is extremely simple:
var range = XLSX.utils.decode_range(worksheet['!ref']);
var ncols = range.e.c - range.s.c + 1, nrows = range.e.r - range.s.r + 1;
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 ** |
Props |
Override workbook properties when writing ** | |
themeXLSX |
Override theme XML when writing XLSX/XLSB/XLSM ** | |
ignoreEC |
true |
Suppress "number as text" errors ** |
bookSST
is slower and more memory intensive, but has better compatibility with older versions of iOS Numbers- The raw data is the only thing guaranteed to be saved. Features not described in this README may not be serialized.
cellDates
only applies to XLSX output and is not guaranteed to work with third-party readers. Excel itself does not usually write cells with typed
so non-Excel tools may ignore the data or error in the presence of dates.Props
is an object mirroring the workbookProps
field. See the table from the Workbook File Properties section.- if specified, the string from
themeXLSX
will be saved as the primary theme for XLSX/XLSB/XLSM files (toxl/theme/theme1.xml
in the ZIP) - Due to a bug in the program, some features like "Text to Columns" will crash
Excel on worksheets where error conditions are ignored. The writer will mark
files to ignore the error by default. Set
ignoreEC
tofalse
to suppress.
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 |
biff8 |
.xls |
CFB | multi | Excel 97-2004 Workbook Format |
biff5 |
.xls |
CFB | multi | Excel 5.0/95 Workbook Format |
biff4 |
.xls |
none | single | Excel 4.0 Worksheet Format |
biff3 |
.xls |
none | single | Excel 3.0 Worksheet 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 |
wk3 |
.wk3 |
none | single | Lotus Workbook (WK3) |
csv |
.csv |
none | single | Comma Separated Values |
txt |
.txt |
none | single | UTF-16 Unicode Text (TXT) |
sylk |
.sylk |
none | single | Symbolic Link (SYLK) |
html |
.html |
none | single | HTML Document |
dif |
.dif |
none | single | Data Interchange Format (DIF) |
dbf |
.dbf |
none | single | dBASE II + VFP Extensions (DBF) |
wk1 |
.wk1 |
none | single | Lotus Worksheet (WK1) |
rtf |
.rtf |
none | single | Rich Text Format (RTF) |
prn |
.prn |
none | single | Lotus Formatted Text |
eth |
.eth |
none | single | Ethercalc Record Format (ETH) |
compression
only applies to formats with ZIP containers.- Formats that only support a single sheet require a
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 ifbookType
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 (byte n is data.charCodeAt(n) ) |
"string" |
string: JS string (characters interpreted as UTF8) |
"buffer" |
nodejs Buffer |
"array" |
ArrayBuffer, fallback array of 8-bit unsigned int |
"file" |
string: path of file that will be created (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 |
nullError |
false | If true, emit #NULL! error cells for null values |
Examples (click to show)
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.sheet_add_aoa
takes an array of arrays of JS values and updates an
existing worksheet object. It follows the same process as aoa_to_sheet
and
accepts 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 |
nullError |
false | If true, emit #NULL! error cells for null values |
origin |
Use specified cell as starting point (see below) |
origin
is expected to be one of:
origin |
Description |
---|---|
(cell object) | Use specified cell (cell object) |
(string) | Use specified cell (A1-style cell) |
(number >= 0) | Start from the first column at specified row (0-indexed) |
-1 | Append to bottom of worksheet starting on first column |
(default) | Start from cell A1 |
Examples (click to show)
Consider the worksheet:
XXX| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
1 | S | h | e | e | t | J | S |
2 | 1 | 2 | | | 5 | 6 | 7 |
3 | 2 | 3 | | | 6 | 7 | 8 |
4 | 3 | 4 | | | 7 | 8 | 9 |
5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
This worksheet can be built up in the order A1:G1, A2:B4, E2:G4, A5:G5
:
/* Initial row */
var ws = XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet([ "SheetJS".split("") ]);
/* Write data starting at A2 */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_aoa(ws, [[1,2], [2,3], [3,4]], {origin: "A2"});
/* Write data starting at E2 */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_aoa(ws, [[5,6,7], [6,7,8], [7,8,9]], {origin:{r:1, c:4}});
/* Append row */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_aoa(ws, [[4,5,6,7,8,9,0]], {origin: -1});
XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet
takes an array of objects and returns a worksheet
with automatically-generated "headers" based on the keys of the objects. The
default column order is determined by the first appearance of the field using
Object.keys
. The function accepts an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
header |
Use specified field order (default Object.keys ) ** |
|
dateNF |
FMT 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
cellDates |
false | Store dates as type d (default is n ) |
skipHeader |
false | If true, do not include header row in output |
nullError |
false | If true, emit #NULL! error cells for null values |
- All fields from each row will be written. If
header
is an array and it does not contain a particular field, the key will be appended to the array. - Cell types are deduced from the type of each value. For example, a
Date
object will generate a Date cell, while a string will generate a Text cell. - Null values will be skipped by default. If
nullError
is true, an error cell corresponding to#NULL!
will be written to the worksheet.
Examples (click to show)
The original sheet cannot be reproduced using plain objects since JS object keys
must be unique. After replacing the second e
and S
with e_1
and S_1
:
var ws = XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet([
{ 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 }
], {header:["S","h","e","e_1","t","J","S_1"]});
Alternatively, the header row can be skipped:
var ws = XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet([
{ 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 }
], {header:["A","B","C","D","E","F","G"], skipHeader:true});
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_json
takes an array of objects and updates an existing
worksheet object. It follows the same process as json_to_sheet
and accepts
an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
header |
Use specified column order (default Object.keys ) |
|
dateNF |
FMT 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
cellDates |
false | Store dates as type d (default is n ) |
skipHeader |
false | If true, do not include header row in output |
nullError |
false | If true, emit #NULL! error cells for null values |
origin |
Use specified cell as starting point (see below) |
origin
is expected to be one of:
origin |
Description |
---|---|
(cell object) | Use specified cell (cell object) |
(string) | Use specified cell (A1-style cell) |
(number >= 0) | Start from the first column at specified row (0-indexed) |
-1 | Append to bottom of worksheet starting on first column |
(default) | Start from cell A1 |
Examples (click to show)
Consider the worksheet:
XXX| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
1 | S | h | e | e | t | J | S |
2 | 1 | 2 | | | 5 | 6 | 7 |
3 | 2 | 3 | | | 6 | 7 | 8 |
4 | 3 | 4 | | | 7 | 8 | 9 |
5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
This worksheet can be built up in the order A1:G1, A2:B4, E2:G4, A5:G5
:
/* Initial row */
var ws = XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet([
{ A: "S", B: "h", C: "e", D: "e", E: "t", F: "J", G: "S" }
], {header: ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G"], skipHeader: true});
/* Write data starting at A2 */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_json(ws, [
{ A: 1, B: 2 }, { A: 2, B: 3 }, { A: 3, B: 4 }
], {skipHeader: true, origin: "A2"});
/* Write data starting at E2 */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_json(ws, [
{ A: 5, B: 6, C: 7 }, { A: 6, B: 7, C: 8 }, { A: 7, B: 8, C: 9 }
], {skipHeader: true, origin: { r: 1, c: 4 }, header: [ "A", "B", "C" ]});
/* Append row */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_json(ws, [
{ A: 4, B: 5, C: 6, D: 7, E: 8, F: 9, G: 0 }
], {header: ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G"], skipHeader: true, origin: -1});
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.
Both functions accept options arguments:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
raw |
If true, every cell will hold raw strings | |
dateNF |
FMT 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
cellDates |
false | Store dates as type d (default is n ) |
sheetRows |
0 | If >0, read the first sheetRows rows of the table |
display |
false | If true, hidden rows and cells will not be parsed |
Examples (click to show)
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_add_dom
takes a table DOM element and updates an existing
worksheet object. It follows the same process as table_to_sheet
and accepts
an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
raw |
If true, every cell will hold raw strings | |
dateNF |
FMT 14 | Use specified date format in string output |
cellDates |
false | Store dates as type d (default is n ) |
sheetRows |
0 | If >0, read the first sheetRows rows of the table |
display |
false | If true, hidden rows and cells will not be parsed |
origin
is expected to be one of:
origin |
Description |
---|---|
(cell object) | Use specified cell (cell object) |
(string) | Use specified cell (A1-style cell) |
(number >= 0) | Start from the first column at specified row (0-indexed) |
-1 | Append to bottom of worksheet starting on first column |
(default) | Start from cell A1 |
Examples (click to show)
A small helper function can create gap rows between tables:
function create_gap_rows(ws, nrows) {
var ref = XLSX.utils.decode_range(ws["!ref"]); // get original range
ref.e.r += nrows; // add to ending row
ws["!ref"] = XLSX.utils.encode_range(ref); // reassign row
}
/* first table */
var ws = XLSX.utils.table_to_sheet(document.getElementById('table1'));
create_gap_rows(ws, 1); // one row gap after first table
/* second table */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_dom(ws, document.getElementById('table2'), {origin: -1});
create_gap_rows(ws, 3); // three rows gap after second table
/* third table */
XLSX.utils.sheet_add_dom(ws, document.getElementById('table3'), {origin: -1});
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.
Examples (click to show)
For the example sheet:
> var o = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_formulae(ws);
> [o[0], o[5], o[10], o[15], o[20]];
[ '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 |
skipHidden |
false | Skips hidden rows/columns in the CSV output |
forceQuotes |
false | Force quotes around fields |
strip
will remove trailing commas from each line under defaultFS/RS
blankrows
must be set tofalse
to skip blank lines.- Fields containing the record or field separator will automatically be wrapped
in double quotes;
forceQuotes
forces all cells to be wrapped in quotes.
Examples (click to show)
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(XLSX.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 full distribution but not core),
the output will be encoded in CP1200
and the BOM will be prepended.
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_txt
takes the same arguments as sheet_to_csv
.
As an alternative to the writeFile
HTML type, XLSX.utils.sheet_to_html
also
produces HTML output. The function takes an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
id |
Specify the id attribute for the TABLE element |
|
editable |
false | If true, set contenteditable="true" for every TD |
header |
Override header (default html body ) |
|
footer |
Override footer (default /body /html ) |
Examples (click to show)
For the example sheet:
> console.log(XLSX.utils.sheet_to_html(ws));
// ...
XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json
generates different types of JS objects. The function
takes an options argument:
Option Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
raw |
true |
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.- If
header
is specified, the first row is considered a data row; ifheader
is not specified, the first row is the header row and not considered data. - When
header
is not specified, the conversion will automatically disambiguate header entries by affixing_
and a count starting at1
. For example, if three columns have headerfoo
the output fields arefoo
,foo_1
,foo_2
null
values are returned whenraw
is true but are skipped when false.- If
defval
is not specified, null and undefined values are skipped normally. If specified, all null and undefined points will be filled withdefval
- When
header
is1
, the default is to generate blank rows.blankrows
must be set tofalse
to skip blank rows. - When
header
is not1
, the default is to skip blank rows.blankrows
must be true to generate blank rows
range
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 ("2D Array") |
"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.
Examples (click to show)
For the example sheet:
> XLSX.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 } ]
> XLSX.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' } ]
> XLSX.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' } ]
> XLSX.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' ] ]
Example showing the effect of raw
:
> ws['A2'].w = "3"; // set A2 formatted string value
> XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, {header:1, raw:false});
[ [ 'S', 'h', 'e', 'e', 't', 'J', 'S' ],
[ '3', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7' ], // <-- A2 uses the formatted string
[ '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8' ] ]
> XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, {header:1});
[ [ '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) | β | β |
Excel 2007+ Binary Format (XLSB BIFF12) | β | β |
Excel 2003-2004 XML Format (XML "SpreadsheetML") | β | β |
Excel 97-2004 (XLS BIFF8) | β | β |
Excel 5.0/95 (XLS BIFF5) | β | β |
Excel 4.0 (XLS/XLW BIFF4) | β | β |
Excel 3.0 (XLS BIFF3) | β | β |
Excel 2.0/2.1 (XLS BIFF2) | β | β |
Excel Supported Text Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
Delimiter-Separated Values (CSV/TXT) | β | β |
Data Interchange Format (DIF) | β | β |
Symbolic Link (SYLK/SLK) | β | β |
Lotus Formatted Text (PRN) | β | β |
UTF-16 Unicode Text (TXT) | β | β |
Other Workbook/Worksheet Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) | β | β |
Flat XML ODF Spreadsheet (FODS) | β | β |
Uniform Office Format Spreadsheet (ζ ζι UOS1/UOS2) | β | |
dBASE II/III/IV / Visual FoxPro (DBF) | β | β |
Lotus 1-2-3 (WK1/WK3) | β | β |
Lotus 1-2-3 (WKS/WK2/WK4/123) | β | |
Quattro Pro Spreadsheet (WQ1/WQ2/WB1/WB2/WB3/QPW) | β | |
Other Common Spreadsheet Output Formats | :-----: | :-----: |
HTML Tables | β | β |
Rich Text Format tables (RTF) | β | |
Ethercalc Record Format (ETH) | β | β |
Features not supported by a given file format will not be written. Formats with range limits will be silently truncated:
Format | Last Cell | Max Cols | Max Rows |
---|---|---|---|
Excel 2007+ XML Formats (XLSX/XLSM) | XFD1048576 | 16384 | 1048576 |
Excel 2007+ Binary Format (XLSB BIFF12) | XFD1048576 | 16384 | 1048576 |
Excel 97-2004 (XLS BIFF8) | IV65536 | 256 | 65536 |
Excel 5.0/95 (XLS BIFF5) | IV16384 | 256 | 16384 |
Excel 4.0 (XLS BIFF4) | IV16384 | 256 | 16384 |
Excel 3.0 (XLS BIFF3) | IV16384 | 256 | 16384 |
Excel 2.0/2.1 (XLS BIFF2) | IV16384 | 256 | 16384 |
Excel 2003 SpreadsheetML range limits are governed by the version of Excel and are not enforced by the writer.
(click to show)
XLSX and XLSM files are ZIP containers containing a series of XML files in accordance with the Open Packaging Conventions (OPC). The XLSM format, 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.
(click to show)
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 determined 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.
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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.
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Predating XLSX, SpreadsheetML files are simple XML files. There is no official and comprehensive specification, although MS has released documentation on the format. Since Excel 2016 can generate SpreadsheetML files, mapping features is pretty straightforward.
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Introduced in parallel with XLSX, the XLSB format combines the 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.
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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. The writer proactively generates cells for formulae if values are unavailable.
Excel TXT uses tab as the delimiter and code page 1200.
Notes:
- Like in Excel, files starting with
0x49 0x44 ("ID")
are treated as Symbolic Link files. Unlike Excel, if the file does not have a valid SYLK header, it will be proactively reinterpreted as CSV. There are some files with semicolon delimiter that align with a valid SYLK file. For the broadest compatibility, all cells with the value ofID
are automatically wrapped in double-quotes.
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Support for other formats is generally far XLS/XLSB/XLSX support, due in large part to a lack of publicly available documentation. Test files were produced in the respective apps and compared to their XLS exports to determine structure. The main focus is data extraction.
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The Lotus formats consist of binary records similar to the BIFF structure. Lotus did release a specification decades ago covering the original WK1 format. Other features were deduced by producing files and comparing to Excel support.
Generated WK1 worksheets are compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 R2 and Excel 5.0.
Generated WK3 workbooks are compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 R9 and Excel 5.0.
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The Quattro Pro formats use binary records in the same way as BIFF and Lotus. Some of the newer formats (namely WB3 and QPW) use a CFB enclosure just like BIFF8 XLS.
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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. The parsers and writers do not implement the full standard, instead focusing on parts necessary to extract and store raw data.
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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 is in the names of tags and attributes.
Many older formats supported only one worksheet:
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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. The writer makes files compatible with Visual FoxPro extensions.
Multi-file extensions like external memos and tables are currently unsupported, limited by the general ability to read arbitrary files in the web browser. The reader understands DBF Level 7 extensions like DATETIME.
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There is no real documentation. All knowledge was gathered by saving files in various versions of Excel to deduce the meaning of fields. Notes:
- Plain formulae are stored in the RC form.
- Column widths are rounded to integral characters.
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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. Excel's 240 character width limitation is not enforced.
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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. In particular, Excel extends DIF in incompatible ways:
- Since Excel automatically converts numbers-as-strings to numbers, numeric
string constants are converted to formulae:
"0.3" -> "=""0.3""
- DIF technically expects numeric cells to hold the raw numeric data, but Excel permits formatted numbers (including dates)
- DIF technically has no support for formulae, but Excel will automatically convert plain formulae. Array formulae are not preserved.
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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.
The writer adds type metadata to the TD elements via the t
tag. The parser
looks for those tags and overrides the default interpretation. For example, text
like <td>12345</td>
will be parsed as numbers but <td t="s">12345</td>
will
be parsed as text.
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Excel RTF worksheets are stored in clipboard when copying cells or ranges from a worksheet. The supported codes are a subset of the Word RTF support.
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Ethercalc is an open source web spreadsheet powered by a record format reminiscent of SYLK wrapped in a MIME multi-part message.
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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 available with make test_misc
$ make test_misc # run core tests
$ 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 XML test files
$ make test_ods # only use the ODS 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 eslint
checks are available:
$ make lint # eslint checks
$ make flow # make lint + Flow checking
$ make tslint # check TS definitions
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The core in-browser tests are available at tests/index.html
within this repo.
Start a local server and navigate to that directory to run the tests.
make ctestserv
will start a server on port 8000.
make ctest
will generate the browser fixtures. To add more files, edit the
tests/fixtures.lst
file and add the paths.
To run the full in-browser tests, clone the repo for
oss.sheetjs.com
and replace
the xlsx.js
file (then open a browser window 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
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- NodeJS
0.8
,0.10
,0.12
,4.x
,5.x
,6.x
,7.x
,8.x
- IE 6/7/8/9/10/11 (IE 6-9 require shims)
- Chrome 24+ (including Android 4.0+)
- Safari 6+ (iOS and Desktop)
- Edge 13+, FF 18+, and Opera 12+
Tests utilize the mocha testing framework.
- https://saucelabs.com/u/sheetjs for XLS* modules using Sauce Labs
The test suite also includes tests for various time zones. To change the timezone locally, set the TZ environment variable:
$ env TZ="Asia/Kolkata" WTF=1 make test_misc
Test files are housed in another repo.
Running make init
will refresh the test_files
submodule and get the files.
Note that this requires svn
, git
, hg
and other commands that may not be
available. If make init
fails, please download the latest version of the test
files snapshot from the repo
Latest Snapshot (click to show)
Latest test files snapshot: http://github.com/SheetJS/test_files/releases/download/20170409/test_files.zip
(download and unzip to the test_files
subdirectory)
Due to the precarious nature of the Open Specifications Promise, it is very important to ensure code is cleanroom. Contribution Notes
File organization (click to show)
At a high level, the final script is a concatenation of the individual files in
the bits
folder. Running make
should reproduce the final output on all
platforms. The README is similarly split into bits in the docbits
folder.
Folders:
folder | contents |
---|---|
bits |
raw source files that make up the final script |
docbits |
raw markdown files that make up README.md |
bin |
server-side bin scripts (xlsx.njs ) |
dist |
dist files for web browsers and nonstandard JS environments |
demos |
demo projects for platforms like ExtendScript and Webpack |
tests |
browser tests (run make ctest to rebuild) |
types |
typescript definitions and tests |
misc |
miscellaneous supporting scripts |
test_files |
test files (pulled from the test files repository) |
After cloning the repo, running make help
will display a list of commands.
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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.
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The included make.cmd
script will build xlsx.js
from the bits
directory.
Building is as simple as:
> make
To prepare development environment:
> make init
The full list of commands available in Windows are displayed in make help
:
make init -- install deps and global modules
make lint -- run eslint linter
make test -- run mocha test suite
make misc -- run smaller test suite
make book -- rebuild README and summary
make help -- display this message
As explained in Test Files, on Windows the release ZIP file must be downloaded and extracted. If Bash on Windows is available, it is possible to run the OSX/Linux workflow. The following steps prepares the environment:
# Install support programs for the build and test commands
sudo apt-get install make git subversion mercurial
# Install nodejs and NPM within the WSL
wget -qO- https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install nodejs
# Install dev dependencies
sudo npm install -g mocha voc blanket xlsjs
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The test_misc
target (make test_misc
on Linux/OSX / make misc
on Windows)
runs the targeted feature tests. It should take 5-10 seconds to perform feature
tests without testing against the entire test battery. New features should be
accompanied with tests for the relevant file formats and features.
For tests involving the read side, an appropriate feature test would involve reading an existing file and checking the resulting workbook object. If a parameter is involved, files should be read with different values to verify that the feature is working as expected.
For tests involving a new write feature which can already be parsed, appropriate feature tests would involve writing a workbook with the feature and then opening and verifying that the feature is preserved.
For tests involving a new write feature without an existing read ability, please
add a feature test to the kitchen sink tests/write.js
.
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.
OSP-covered Specifications (click to show)
MS-CFB
: Compound File Binary File FormatMS-CTXLS
: Excel Custom Toolbar Binary File FormatMS-EXSPXML3
: Excel Calculation Version 2 Web Service XML SchemaMS-ODATA
: Open Data Protocol (OData)MS-ODRAW
: Office Drawing Binary File FormatMS-ODRAWXML
: Office Drawing Extensions to Office Open XML StructureMS-OE376
: Office Implementation Information for ECMA-376 Standards SupportMS-OFFCRYPTO
: Office Document Cryptography StructureMS-OI29500
: Office Implementation Information for ISO/IEC 29500 Standards SupportMS-OLEDS
: Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Data StructuresMS-OLEPS
: Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Property Set Data StructuresMS-OODF3
: Office Implementation Information for ODF 1.2 Standards SupportMS-OSHARED
: Office Common Data Types and Objects StructuresMS-OVBA
: Office VBA File Format StructureMS-XLDM
: Spreadsheet Data Model File FormatMS-XLS
: Excel Binary File Format (.xls) Structure SpecificationMS-XLSB
: Excel (.xlsb) Binary File FormatMS-XLSX
: Excel (.xlsx) Extensions to the Office Open XML SpreadsheetML File FormatXLS
: Microsoft Office Excel 97-2007 Binary File Format SpecificationRTF
: Rich Text Format
- ISO/IEC 29500:2012(E) "Information technology β Document description and processing languages β Office Open XML File Formats"
- Open Document Format for Office Applications Version 1.2 (29 September 2011)
- Worksheet File Format (From Lotus) December 1984