Create and Read Excel File using PHP

Last updated on August 28th, 2020 at 05:01 pm

In this post I will explain to you how we can create and read Excel (.xlsx||.xls) using PHP. If you miss my last post in which I explain how to create a CSV file using PHP please read that post. For this post, I am using PhpSpreadsheet plugin. You can use this plugin in any framework you can install this plugin using composer.

Install PHP Spreadsheet using Composer

Step 1. Login to your serval using a terminal and run below command it will install in your project

composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet

Step 2. Now include installed plugin in your file

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

Step 3. Create Excel file using this plugin is very simple to please add below code and run.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

// ADD DATA TO SPECIFIC CELL
$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1', 'Hello World !');

// Create Excel file and sve in your directory
$writer = new Xlsx($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('mysheet.xlsx');

This code creates an excel file and add data in the cell and save.

Step 4. Add new sheet in your excel file use below code

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

// ADD DATA TO SPECIFIC CELL
$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()->setCellValue('A1', 'Hello World !');

// Create a new worksheet called "My Data"
// Attach the "My Data" worksheet as the first worksheet in the Spreadsheet object
$myWorkSheet = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Worksheet\Worksheet($spreadsheet, 'My Data');
$spreadsheet->addSheet($myWorkSheet, 0);

// Create Excel file and sve in your directory
$writer = new Xlsx($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('mysheet.xlsx');

Step 5. Now if you want to array data in your excel at location use below code

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

$arrayData = [
    ['Aneh', 'Amit', 'Ajay', 'Sanjeev'],
    ['Q1',   12,   15,   21],
    ['Q2',   56,   73,   86],
];
$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
    ->fromArray(
        $arrayData,  // The data to set
        NULL,        // Array values with this value will not be set
        'A1'         // Top left coordinate of the worksheet range where
    );

// Create Excel file and sve in your directory
$writer = new Xlsx($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('mysheet.xlsx');

Step 6. Now if you want to create a fixed header in your excel sheet. We use freezePane method to fixed header

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

// FIXED HEADER
$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()->freezePane('D2');

$arrayData = [
    ['Aneh', 'Amit', 'Ajay', 'Sanjeev'],
    ['Q1',   12,   15,   21],
    ['Q2',   56,   73,   86],
];
$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
    ->fromArray(
        $arrayData,  // The data to set
        NULL,        // Array values with this value will not be set
        'A1'         // Top left coordinate of the worksheet range where
    );

// Create Excel file and sve in your directory
$writer = new Xlsx($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('mysheet.xlsx');

Read Excel(.xlsx) file using PhpSpreadsheet

Reading spreadsheet file is very easy you need to pass sheet name if you want to specific sheet please follow below steps.

Step 1. In this step we can get list of sheet and name

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

$inputFileType = 'Xlsx';
$inputFileName = './mysheet.xlsx';

/**  Create a new Reader of the type defined in $inputFileType  **/
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);
/**  Advise the Reader that we only want to load cell data  **/
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);

$worksheetNames = $reader->listWorksheetNames($inputFileName);

echo '<h3>Worksheet Names</h3>';
echo '<ol>';
foreach ($worksheetNames as $worksheetName) {
    echo '<li>', $worksheetName, '</li>';
}
echo '</ol>';

Step 2. Now we can read sheet and sheet info eg. Row, Column, Cell Range

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

$inputFileType = 'Xlsx';
$inputFileName = './mysheet.xlsx';

/**  Create a new Reader of the type defined in $inputFileType  **/
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);
/**  Advise the Reader that we only want to load cell data  **/
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);

$worksheetData = $reader->listWorksheetInfo($inputFileName);

echo '<h3>Worksheet Information</h3>';
echo '<ol>';
foreach ($worksheetData as $worksheet) {
    echo '<li>', $worksheet['worksheetName'], '<br />';
    echo 'Rows: ', $worksheet['totalRows'],
         ' Columns: ', $worksheet['totalColumns'], '<br />';
    echo 'Cell Range: A1:',
    $worksheet['lastColumnLetter'], $worksheet['totalRows'];
    echo '</li>';
}
echo '</ol>';

Step 3. Read data for specific sheet use below code

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();

$inputFileType = 'Xlsx';
$inputFileName = './mysheet.xlsx';

/**  Create a new Reader of the type defined in $inputFileType  **/
$reader = \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory::createReader($inputFileType);
/**  Advise the Reader that we only want to load cell data  **/
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);

$worksheetData = $reader->listWorksheetInfo($inputFileName);

foreach ($worksheetData as $worksheet) {
    $sheetName = $worksheet['worksheetName'];

    echo "<h4>$sheetName</h4>";
    /**  Load $inputFileName to a Spreadsheet Object  **/
    $reader->setLoadSheetsOnly($sheetName);
    $spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName);

    $worksheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet();
    print_r($worksheet->toArray());
    
}

If you want to learn more about PhpSpreadsheet please follow their official link.

Hope this post helps you. Please like share this post 🙂