1Spreadsheet::WriteExcelU(s3e)r Contributed Perl DocumentaStpiroenadsheet::WriteExcel(3)
2
6 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel - Write to a cross-platform Excel binary file.
7
9 This document refers to version 2.36 of Spreadsheet::WriteExcel,
10 released January 21, 2010.
11
13 To write a string, a formatted string, a number and a formula to the
14 first worksheet in an Excel workbook called perl.xls:
15 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
17 # Create a new Excel workbook
19 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('perl.xls');
20 # Add a worksheet
22 $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
23 # Add and define a format
25 $format = $workbook->add_format(); # Add a format
26 $format->set_bold();
27 $format->set_color('red');
28 $format->set_align('center');
29 # Write a formatted and unformatted string, row and column notation.
31 $col = $row = 0;
32 $worksheet->write($row, $col, 'Hi Excel!', $format);
33 $worksheet->write(1, $col, 'Hi Excel!');
34 # Write a number and a formula using A1 notation
36 $worksheet->write('A3', 1.2345);
37 $worksheet->write('A4', '=SIN(PI()/4)');
38
40 The Spreadsheet::WriteExcel Perl module can be used to create a cross-
41 platform Excel binary file. Multiple worksheets can be added to a
42 workbook and formatting can be applied to cells. Text, numbers,
43 formulas, hyperlinks, images and charts can be written to the cells.
44 The file produced by this module is compatible with Excel 97, 2000,
46 2002, 2003 and 2007.
47 The module will work on the majority of Windows, UNIX and Mac
49 platforms. Generated files are also compatible with the Linux/UNIX
50 spreadsheet applications Gnumeric and OpenOffice.org.
51 This module cannot be used to write to an existing Excel file (See
53 "MODIFYING AND REWRITING EXCEL FILES").
54
56 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel tries to provide an interface to as many of
57 Excel's features as possible. As a result there is a lot of
58 documentation to accompany the interface and it can be difficult at
59 first glance to see what it important and what is not. So for those of
60 you who prefer to assemble Ikea furniture first and then read the
61 instructions, here are three easy steps:
62 1. Create a new Excel workbook (i.e. file) using "new()".
64 2. Add a worksheet to the new workbook using "add_worksheet()".
66 3. Write to the worksheet using "write()".
68 Like this:
70 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel; # Step 0
72 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('perl.xls'); # Step 1
74 $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet(); # Step 2
75 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hi Excel!'); # Step 3
76 This will create an Excel file called "perl.xls" with a single
78 worksheet and the text 'Hi Excel!' in the relevant cell. And that's it.
79 Okay, so there is actually a zeroth step as well, but "use module" goes
80 without saying. There are also more than 80 examples that come with the
81 distribution and which you can use to get you started. See EXAMPLES.
82 Those of you who read the instructions first and assemble the furniture
84 afterwards will know how to proceed. ;-)
85
87 The Spreadsheet::WriteExcel module provides an object oriented
88 interface to a new Excel workbook. The following methods are available
89 through a new workbook.
90 new()
92 add_worksheet()
93 add_format()
94 add_chart()
95 add_chart_ext()
96 close()
97 compatibility_mode()
98 set_properties()
99 define_name()
100 set_tempdir()
101 set_custom_color()
102 sheets()
103 set_1904()
104 set_codepage()
105 If you are unfamiliar with object oriented interfaces or the way that
107 they are implemented in Perl have a look at "perlobj" and "perltoot" in
108 the main Perl documentation.
109 new()
111 A new Excel workbook is created using the "new()" constructor which
112 accepts either a filename or a filehandle as a parameter. The following
113 example creates a new Excel file based on a filename:
114 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('filename.xls');
116 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
117 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Hi Excel!');
118 Here are some other examples of using "new()" with filenames:
120 my $workbook1 = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new($filename);
122 my $workbook2 = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('/tmp/filename.xls');
123 my $workbook3 = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new("c:\\tmp\\filename.xls");
124 my $workbook4 = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('c:\tmp\filename.xls');
125 The last two examples demonstrates how to create a file on DOS or
127 Windows where it is necessary to either escape the directory separator
128 "\" or to use single quotes to ensure that it isn't interpolated. For
129 more information see "perlfaq5: Why can't I use "C:\temp\foo" in DOS
130 paths?".
131 The "new()" constructor returns a Spreadsheet::WriteExcel object that
133 you can use to add worksheets and store data. It should be noted that
134 although "my" is not specifically required it defines the scope of the
135 new workbook variable and, in the majority of cases, ensures that the
136 workbook is closed properly without explicitly calling the "close()"
137 method.
138 If the file cannot be created, due to file permissions or some other
140 reason, "new" will return "undef". Therefore, it is good practice to
141 check the return value of "new" before proceeding. As usual the Perl
142 variable $! will be set if there is a file creation error. You will
143 also see one of the warning messages detailed in DIAGNOSTICS:
144 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('protected.xls');
146 die "Problems creating new Excel file: $!" unless defined $workbook;
147 You can also pass a valid filehandle to the "new()" constructor. For
149 example in a CGI program you could do something like this:
150 binmode(STDOUT);
152 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new(\*STDOUT);
153 The requirement for "binmode()" is explained below.
155 For CGI programs you can also use the special Perl filename '-' which
157 will redirect the output to STDOUT:
158 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('-');
160 See also, the "cgi.pl" program in the "examples" directory of the
162 distro.
163 However, this special case will not work in "mod_perl" programs where
165 you will have to do something like the following:
166 # mod_perl 1
168 ...
169 tie *XLS, 'Apache';
170 binmode(XLS);
171 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new(\*XLS);
172 ...
173 # mod_perl 2
175 ...
176 tie *XLS => $r; # Tie to the Apache::RequestRec object
177 binmode(*XLS);
178 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new(\*XLS);
179 ...
180 See also, the "mod_perl1.pl" and "mod_perl2.pl" programs in the
182 "examples" directory of the distro.
183 Filehandles can also be useful if you want to stream an Excel file over
185 a socket or if you want to store an Excel file in a scalar.
186 For example here is a way to write an Excel file to a scalar with "perl
188 5.8":
189 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
191 use strict;
193 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
194 # Requires perl 5.8 or later
196 open my $fh, '>', \my $str or die "Failed to open filehandle: $!";
197 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new($fh);
199 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
200 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Hi Excel!');
202 $workbook->close();
204 # The Excel file in now in $str. Remember to binmode() the output
206 # filehandle before printing it.
207 binmode STDOUT;
208 print $str;
209 See also the "write_to_scalar.pl" and "filehandle.pl" programs in the
211 "examples" directory of the distro.
212 Note about the requirement for "binmode()". An Excel file is comprised
214 of binary data. Therefore, if you are using a filehandle you should
215 ensure that you "binmode()" it prior to passing it to "new()".You
216 should do this regardless of whether you are on a Windows platform or
217 not. This applies especially to users of perl 5.8 on systems where
218 "UTF-8" is likely to be in operation such as RedHat Linux 9. If your
219 program, either intentionally or not, writes "UTF-8" data to a
220 filehandle that is passed to "new()" it will corrupt the Excel file
221 that is created.
222 You don't have to worry about "binmode()" if you are using filenames
224 instead of filehandles. Spreadsheet::WriteExcel performs the
225 "binmode()" internally when it converts the filename to a filehandle.
226 For more information about "binmode()" see "perlfunc" and "perlopentut"
227 in the main Perl documentation.
228 add_worksheet($sheetname, $utf_16_be)
230 At least one worksheet should be added to a new workbook. A worksheet
231 is used to write data into cells:
232 $worksheet1 = $workbook->add_worksheet(); # Sheet1
234 $worksheet2 = $workbook->add_worksheet('Foglio2'); # Foglio2
235 $worksheet3 = $workbook->add_worksheet('Data'); # Data
236 $worksheet4 = $workbook->add_worksheet(); # Sheet4
237 If $sheetname is not specified the default Excel convention will be
239 followed, i.e. Sheet1, Sheet2, etc. The $utf_16_be parameter is
240 optional, see below.
241 The worksheet name must be a valid Excel worksheet name, i.e. it cannot
243 contain any of the following characters, "[ ] : * ? / \" and it must be
244 less than 32 characters. In addition, you cannot use the same, case
245 insensitive, $sheetname for more than one worksheet.
246 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "add_worksheet()" method will
248 also handle strings in "UTF-8" format.
249 $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet("\x{263a}"); # Smiley
251 On earlier Perl systems your can specify "UTF-16BE" worksheet names
253 using an additional optional parameter:
254 my $name = pack 'n', 0x263a;
256 $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet($name, 1); # Smiley
257 add_format(%properties)
259 The "add_format()" method can be used to create new Format objects
260 which are used to apply formatting to a cell. You can either define the
261 properties at creation time via a hash of property values or later via
262 method calls.
263 $format1 = $workbook->add_format(%props); # Set properties at creation
265 $format2 = $workbook->add_format(); # Set properties later
266 See the "CELL FORMATTING" section for more details about Format
268 properties and how to set them.
269 add_chart(%properties)
271 This method is use to create a new chart either as a standalone
272 worksheet (the default) or as an embeddable object that can be inserted
273 into a worksheet via the "insert_chart()" Worksheet method.
274 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart( type => 'column' );
276 The properties that can be set are:
278 type (required)
280 name (optional)
281 embedded (optional)
282 · "type"
284 This is a required parameter. It defines the type of chart that
286 will be created.
287 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart( type => 'line' );
289 The available types are:
291 area
293 bar
294 column
295 line
296 pie
297 scatter
298 stock
299 · "name"
301 Set the name for the chart sheet. The name property is optional and
303 if it isn't supplied will default to "Chart1 .. n". The name must
304 be a valid Excel worksheet name. See "add_worksheet()" for more
305 details on valid sheet names. The "name" property can be omitted
306 for embedded charts.
307 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart( type => 'line', name => 'Results Chart' );
309 · "embedded"
311 Specifies that the Chart object will be inserted in a worksheet via
313 the "insert_chart()" Worksheet method. It is an error to try insert
314 a Chart that doesn't have this flag set.
315 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart( type => 'line', embedded => 1 );
317 # Configure the chart.
319 ...
320 # Insert the chart into the a worksheet.
322 $worksheet->insert_chart( 'E2', $chart );
323 See Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Chart for details on how to configure the
325 chart object once it is created. See also the "chart_*.pl" programs in
326 the examples directory of the distro.
327 add_chart_ext($chart_data, $chartname)
329 This method is use to include externally generated charts in a
330 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel file.
331 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart_ext('chart01.bin', 'Chart1');
333 This feature is semi-deprecated in favour of the "native" charts
335 created using "add_chart()". Read "external_charts.txt" (or ".pod") in
336 the external_charts directory of the distro for a full explanation.
337 close()
339 In general your Excel file will be closed automatically when your
340 program ends or when the Workbook object goes out of scope, however the
341 "close()" method can be used to explicitly close an Excel file.
342 $workbook->close();
344 An explicit "close()" is required if the file must be closed prior to
346 performing some external action on it such as copying it, reading its
347 size or attaching it to an email.
348 In addition, "close()" may be required to prevent perl's garbage
350 collector from disposing of the Workbook, Worksheet and Format objects
351 in the wrong order. Situations where this can occur are:
352 · If "my()" was not used to declare the scope of a workbook variable
354 created using "new()".
355 · If the "new()", "add_worksheet()" or "add_format()" methods are
357 called in subroutines.
358 The reason for this is that Spreadsheet::WriteExcel relies on Perl's
360 "DESTROY" mechanism to trigger destructor methods in a specific
361 sequence. This may not happen in cases where the Workbook, Worksheet
362 and Format variables are not lexically scoped or where they have
363 different lexical scopes.
364 In general, if you create a file with a size of 0 bytes or you fail to
366 create a file you need to call "close()".
367 The return value of "close()" is the same as that returned by perl when
369 it closes the file created by "new()". This allows you to handle error
370 conditions in the usual way:
371 $workbook->close() or die "Error closing file: $!";
373 compatibility_mode()
375 This method is used to improve compatibility with third party
376 applications that read Excel files.
377 $workbook->compatibility_mode();
379 An Excel file is comprised of binary records that describe properties
381 of a spreadsheet. Excel is reasonably liberal about this and, outside
382 of a core subset, it doesn't require every possible record to be
383 present when it reads a file. This is also true of Gnumeric and
384 OpenOffice.Org Calc.
385 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel takes advantage of this fact to omit some
387 records in order to minimise the amount of data stored in memory and to
388 simplify and speed up the writing of files. However, some third party
389 applications that read Excel files often expect certain records to be
390 present. In "compatibility mode" Spreadsheet::WriteExcel writes these
391 records and tries to be as close to an Excel generated file as
392 possible.
393 Applications that require "compatibility_mode()" are Apache POI, Apple
395 Numbers, and Quickoffice on Nokia, Palm and other devices. You should
396 also use "compatibility_mode()" if your Excel file will be used as an
397 external data source by another Excel file.
398 If you encounter other situations that require "compatibility_mode()",
400 please let me know.
401 It should be noted that "compatibility_mode()" requires additional data
403 to be stored in memory and additional processing. This incurs a memory
404 and speed penalty and may not be suitable for very large files (>20MB).
405 You must call "compatibility_mode()" before calling "add_worksheet()".
407 set_properties()
409 The "set_properties" method can be used to set the document properties
410 of the Excel file created by "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel". These
411 properties are visible when you use the "File->Properties" menu option
412 in Excel and are also available to external applications that read or
413 index windows files.
414 The properties should be passed as a hash of values as follows:
416 $workbook->set_properties(
418 title => 'This is an example spreadsheet',
419 author => 'John McNamara',
420 comments => 'Created with Perl and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel',
421 );
422 The properties that can be set are:
424 title
426 subject
427 author
428 manager
429 company
430 category
431 keywords
432 comments
433 User defined properties are not supported due to effort required.
435 In perl 5.8+ you can also pass UTF-8 strings as properties. See
437 "UNICODE IN EXCEL".
438 my $smiley = chr 0x263A;
440 $workbook->set_properties(
442 subject => "Happy now? $smiley",
443 );
444 With older versions of perl you can use a module to convert a non-ASCII
446 string to a binary representation of UTF-8 and then pass an additional
447 "utf8" flag to "set_properties()":
448 my $smiley = pack 'H*', 'E298BA';
450 $workbook->set_properties(
452 subject => "Happy now? $smiley",
453 utf8 => 1,
454 );
455 Usually Spreadsheet::WriteExcel allows you to use UTF-16 with pre 5.8
457 versions of perl. However, document properties don't support UTF-16 for
458 these type of strings.
459 In order to promote the usefulness of Perl and the
461 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel module consider adding a comment such as the
462 following when using document properties:
463 $workbook->set_properties(
465 ...,
466 comments => 'Created with Perl and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel',
467 ...,
468 );
469 This feature requires that the "OLE::Storage_Lite" module is installed
471 (which is usually the case for a standard Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
472 installation). However, this also means that the resulting OLE document
473 may possibly be buggy for files less than 7MB since it hasn't been as
474 rigorously tested in that domain. As a result of this "set_properties"
475 is currently incompatible with Gnumeric for files less than 7MB. This
476 is being investigated. If you encounter any problems with this features
477 let me know.
478 For convenience it is possible to pass either a hash or hash ref of
480 arguments to this method.
481 See also the "properties.pl" program in the examples directory of the
483 distro.
484 define_name()
486 This method is used to defined a name that can be used to represent a
487 value, a single cell or a range of cells in a workbook.
488 $workbook->define_name('Exchange_rate', '=0.96');
490 $workbook->define_name('Sales', '=Sheet1!$G$1:$H$10');
491 $workbook->define_name('Sheet2!Sales', '=Sheet2!$G$1:$G$10');
492 See the defined_name.pl program in the examples dir of the distro.
494 Note: This currently a beta feature. More documentation and examples
496 will be added.
497 set_tempdir()
499 For speed and efficiency "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel" stores worksheet
500 data in temporary files prior to assembling the final workbook.
501 If Spreadsheet::WriteExcel is unable to create these temporary files it
503 will store the required data in memory. This can be slow for large
504 files.
505 The problem occurs mainly with IIS on Windows although it could
507 feasibly occur on Unix systems as well. The problem generally occurs
508 because the default temp file directory is defined as "C:/" or some
509 other directory that IIS doesn't provide write access to.
510 To check if this might be a problem on a particular system you can run
512 a simple test program with "-w" or "use warnings". This will generate a
513 warning if the module cannot create the required temporary files:
514 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
516 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
518 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('test.xls');
520 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
521 To avoid this problem the "set_tempdir()" method can be used to specify
523 a directory that is accessible for the creation of temporary files.
524 The "File::Temp" module is used to create the temporary files.
526 File::Temp uses "File::Spec" to determine an appropriate location for
527 these files such as "/tmp" or "c:\windows\temp". You can find out which
528 directory is used on your system as follows:
529 perl -MFile::Spec -le "print File::Spec->tmpdir"
531 Even if the default temporary file directory is accessible you may wish
533 to specify an alternative location for security or maintenance reasons:
534 $workbook->set_tempdir('/tmp/writeexcel');
536 $workbook->set_tempdir('c:\windows\temp\writeexcel');
537 The directory for the temporary file must exist, "set_tempdir()" will
539 not create a new directory.
540 One disadvantage of using the "set_tempdir()" method is that on some
542 Windows systems it will limit you to approximately 800 concurrent
543 tempfiles. This means that a single program running on one of these
544 systems will be limited to creating a total of 800 workbook and
545 worksheet objects. You can run multiple, non-concurrent programs to
546 work around this if necessary.
547 set_custom_color($index, $red, $green, $blue)
549 The "set_custom_color()" method can be used to override one of the
550 built-in palette values with a more suitable colour.
551 The value for $index should be in the range 8..63, see "COLOURS IN
553 EXCEL".
554 The default named colours use the following indices:
556 8 => black
558 9 => white
559 10 => red
560 11 => lime
561 12 => blue
562 13 => yellow
563 14 => magenta
564 15 => cyan
565 16 => brown
566 17 => green
567 18 => navy
568 20 => purple
569 22 => silver
570 23 => gray
571 33 => pink
572 53 => orange
573 A new colour is set using its RGB (red green blue) components. The
575 $red, $green and $blue values must be in the range 0..255. You can
576 determine the required values in Excel using the
577 "Tools->Options->Colors->Modify" dialog.
578 The "set_custom_color()" workbook method can also be used with a HTML
580 style "#rrggbb" hex value:
581 $workbook->set_custom_color(40, 255, 102, 0 ); # Orange
583 $workbook->set_custom_color(40, 0xFF, 0x66, 0x00); # Same thing
584 $workbook->set_custom_color(40, '#FF6600' ); # Same thing
585 my $font = $workbook->add_format(color => 40); # Use the modified colour
587 The return value from "set_custom_color()" is the index of the colour
589 that was changed:
590 my $ferrari = $workbook->set_custom_color(40, 216, 12, 12);
592 my $format = $workbook->add_format(
594 bg_color => $ferrari,
595 pattern => 1,
596 border => 1
597 );
598 sheets(0, 1, ...)
600 The "sheets()" method returns a list, or a sliced list, of the
601 worksheets in a workbook.
602 If no arguments are passed the method returns a list of all the
604 worksheets in the workbook. This is useful if you want to repeat an
605 operation on each worksheet:
606 foreach $worksheet ($workbook->sheets()) {
608 print $worksheet->get_name();
609 }
610 You can also specify a slice list to return one or more worksheet
612 objects:
613 $worksheet = $workbook->sheets(0);
615 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hello');
616 Or since return value from "sheets()" is a reference to a worksheet
618 object you can write the above example as:
619 $workbook->sheets(0)->write('A1', 'Hello');
621 The following example returns the first and last worksheet in a
623 workbook:
624 foreach $worksheet ($workbook->sheets(0, -1)) {
626 # Do something
627 }
628 Array slices are explained in the perldata manpage.
630 set_1904()
632 Excel stores dates as real numbers where the integer part stores the
633 number of days since the epoch and the fractional part stores the
634 percentage of the day. The epoch can be either 1900 or 1904. Excel for
635 Windows uses 1900 and Excel for Macintosh uses 1904. However, Excel on
636 either platform will convert automatically between one system and the
637 other.
638 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel stores dates in the 1900 format by default. If
640 you wish to change this you can call the "set_1904()" workbook method.
641 You can query the current value by calling the "get_1904()" workbook
642 method. This returns 0 for 1900 and 1 for 1904.
643 See also "DATES AND TIME IN EXCEL" for more information about working
645 with Excel's date system.
646 In general you probably won't need to use "set_1904()".
648 set_codepage($codepage)
650 The default code page or character set used by Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
651 is ANSI. This is also the default used by Excel for Windows.
652 Occasionally however it may be necessary to change the code page via
653 the "set_codepage()" method.
654 Changing the code page may be required if your are using
656 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel on the Macintosh and you are using characters
657 outside the ASCII 128 character set:
658 $workbook->set_codepage(1); # ANSI, MS Windows
660 $workbook->set_codepage(2); # Apple Macintosh
661 The "set_codepage()" method is rarely required.
663
665 A new worksheet is created by calling the "add_worksheet()" method from
666 a workbook object:
667 $worksheet1 = $workbook->add_worksheet();
669 $worksheet2 = $workbook->add_worksheet();
670 The following methods are available through a new worksheet:
672 write()
674 write_number()
675 write_string()
676 write_utf16be_string()
677 write_utf16le_string()
678 keep_leading_zeros()
679 write_blank()
680 write_row()
681 write_col()
682 write_date_time()
683 write_url()
684 write_url_range()
685 write_formula()
686 store_formula()
687 repeat_formula()
688 write_comment()
689 show_comments()
690 add_write_handler()
691 insert_image()
692 insert_chart()
693 data_validation()
694 get_name()
695 activate()
696 select()
697 hide()
698 set_first_sheet()
699 protect()
700 set_selection()
701 set_row()
702 set_column()
703 outline_settings()
704 freeze_panes()
705 split_panes()
706 merge_range()
707 set_zoom()
708 right_to_left()
709 hide_zero()
710 set_tab_color()
711 autofilter()
712 Cell notation
714 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel supports two forms of notation to designate the
715 position of cells: Row-column notation and A1 notation.
716 Row-column notation uses a zero based index for both row and column
718 while A1 notation uses the standard Excel alphanumeric sequence of
719 column letter and 1-based row. For example:
720 (0, 0) # The top left cell in row-column notation.
722 ('A1') # The top left cell in A1 notation.
723 (1999, 29) # Row-column notation.
725 ('AD2000') # The same cell in A1 notation.
726 Row-column notation is useful if you are referring to cells
728 programmatically:
729 for my $i (0 .. 9) {
731 $worksheet->write($i, 0, 'Hello'); # Cells A1 to A10
732 }
733 A1 notation is useful for setting up a worksheet manually and for
735 working with formulas:
736 $worksheet->write('H1', 200);
738 $worksheet->write('H2', '=H1+1');
739 In formulas and applicable methods you can also use the "A:A" column
741 notation:
742 $worksheet->write('A1', '=SUM(B:B)');
744 The "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility" module that is included in the
746 distro contains helper functions for dealing with A1 notation, for
747 example:
748 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility;
750 ($row, $col) = xl_cell_to_rowcol('C2'); # (1, 2)
752 $str = xl_rowcol_to_cell(1, 2); # C2
753 For simplicity, the parameter lists for the worksheet method calls in
755 the following sections are given in terms of row-column notation. In
756 all cases it is also possible to use A1 notation.
757 Note: in Excel it is also possible to use a R1C1 notation. This is not
759 supported by Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.
760 write($row, $column, $token, $format)
762 Excel makes a distinction between data types such as strings, numbers,
763 blanks, formulas and hyperlinks. To simplify the process of writing
764 data the "write()" method acts as a general alias for several more
765 specific methods:
766 write_string()
768 write_number()
769 write_blank()
770 write_formula()
771 write_url()
772 write_row()
773 write_col()
774 The general rule is that if the data looks like a something then a
776 something is written. Here are some examples in both row-column and A1
777 notation:
778 # Same as:
780 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Hello' ); # write_string()
781 $worksheet->write(1, 0, 'One' ); # write_string()
782 $worksheet->write(2, 0, 2 ); # write_number()
783 $worksheet->write(3, 0, 3.00001 ); # write_number()
784 $worksheet->write(4, 0, "" ); # write_blank()
785 $worksheet->write(5, 0, '' ); # write_blank()
786 $worksheet->write(6, 0, undef ); # write_blank()
787 $worksheet->write(7, 0 ); # write_blank()
788 $worksheet->write(8, 0, 'http://www.perl.com/'); # write_url()
789 $worksheet->write('A9', 'ftp://ftp.cpan.org/' ); # write_url()
790 $worksheet->write('A10', 'internal:Sheet1!A1' ); # write_url()
791 $worksheet->write('A11', 'external:c:\foo.xls' ); # write_url()
792 $worksheet->write('A12', '=A3 + 3*A4' ); # write_formula()
793 $worksheet->write('A13', '=SIN(PI()/4)' ); # write_formula()
794 $worksheet->write('A14', \@array ); # write_row()
795 $worksheet->write('A15', [\@array] ); # write_col()
796 # And if the keep_leading_zeros property is set:
798 $worksheet->write('A16, 2 ); # write_number()
799 $worksheet->write('A17, 02 ); # write_string()
800 $worksheet->write('A18, 00002 ); # write_string()
801 The "looks like" rule is defined by regular expressions:
803 "write_number()" if $token is a number based on the following regex:
805 "$token =~ /^([+-]?)(?=\d|\.\d)\d*(\.\d*)?([Ee]([+-]?\d+))?$/".
806 "write_string()" if "keep_leading_zeros()" is set and $token is an
808 integer with leading zeros based on the following regex: "$token =~
809 /^0\d+$/".
810 "write_blank()" if $token is undef or a blank string: "undef", "" or
812 ''.
813 "write_url()" if $token is a http, https, ftp or mailto URL based on
815 the following regexes: "$token =~ m|^[fh]tt?ps?://|" or "$token =~
816 m|^mailto:|".
817 "write_url()" if $token is an internal or external sheet reference
819 based on the following regex: "$token =~ m[^(in|ex)ternal:]".
820 "write_formula()" if the first character of $token is "=".
822 "write_row()" if $token is an array ref.
824 "write_col()" if $token is an array ref of array refs.
826 "write_string()" if none of the previous conditions apply.
828 The $format parameter is optional. It should be a valid Format object,
830 see "CELL FORMATTING":
831 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
833 $format->set_bold();
834 $format->set_color('red');
835 $format->set_align('center');
836 $worksheet->write(4, 0, 'Hello', $format); # Formatted string
838 The write() method will ignore empty strings or "undef" tokens unless a
840 format is also supplied. As such you needn't worry about special
841 handling for empty or "undef" values in your data. See also the
842 "write_blank()" method.
843 One problem with the "write()" method is that occasionally data looks
845 like a number but you don't want it treated as a number. For example,
846 zip codes or ID numbers often start with a leading zero. If you write
847 this data as a number then the leading zero(s) will be stripped. You
848 can change this default behaviour by using the "keep_leading_zeros()"
849 method. While this property is in place any integers with leading zeros
850 will be treated as strings and the zeros will be preserved. See the
851 "keep_leading_zeros()" section for a full discussion of this issue.
852 You can also add your own data handlers to the "write()" method using
854 "add_write_handler()".
855 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "write()" method will also
857 handle Unicode strings in "UTF-8" format.
858 The "write" methods return:
860 0 for success.
862 -1 for insufficient number of arguments.
863 -2 for row or column out of bounds.
864 -3 for string too long.
865 write_number($row, $column, $number, $format)
867 Write an integer or a float to the cell specified by $row and $column:
868 $worksheet->write_number(0, 0, 123456);
870 $worksheet->write_number('A2', 2.3451);
871 See the note about "Cell notation". The $format parameter is optional.
873 In general it is sufficient to use the "write()" method.
875 write_string($row, $column, $string, $format)
877 Write a string to the cell specified by $row and $column:
878 $worksheet->write_string(0, 0, 'Your text here' );
880 $worksheet->write_string('A2', 'or here' );
881 The maximum string size is 32767 characters. However the maximum string
883 segment that Excel can display in a cell is 1000. All 32767 characters
884 can be displayed in the formula bar.
885 The $format parameter is optional.
887 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "write()" method will also
889 handle strings in "UTF-8" format. With older perls you can also write
890 Unicode in "UTF16" format via the "write_utf16be_string()" method. See
891 also the "unicode_*.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
892 distro.
893 In general it is sufficient to use the "write()" method. However, you
895 may sometimes wish to use the "write_string()" method to write data
896 that looks like a number but that you don't want treated as a number.
897 For example, zip codes or phone numbers:
898 # Write as a plain string
900 $worksheet->write_string('A1', '01209');
901 However, if the user edits this string Excel may convert it back to a
903 number. To get around this you can use the Excel text format "@":
904 # Format as a string. Doesn't change to a number when edited
906 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => '@');
907 $worksheet->write_string('A2', '01209', $format1);
908 See also the note about "Cell notation".
910 write_utf16be_string($row, $column, $string, $format)
912 This method is used to write "UTF-16BE" strings to a cell in Excel. It
913 is functionally the same as the "write_string()" method except that the
914 string should be in "UTF-16BE" Unicode format. It is generally easier,
915 when using Spreadsheet::WriteExcel, to write unicode strings in "UTF-8"
916 format, see "UNICODE IN EXCEL". The "write_utf16be_string()" method is
917 mainly of use in versions of perl prior to 5.8.
918 The following is a simple example showing how to write some Unicode
920 strings in "UTF-16BE" format:
921 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
923 use strict;
926 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
927 use Unicode::Map();
928 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('utf_16_be.xls');
930 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
931 # Increase the column width for clarity
933 $worksheet->set_column('A:A', 25);
934 # Write a Unicode character
937 #
938 my $smiley = pack 'n', 0x263a;
939 # Increase the font size for legibility.
941 my $big_font = $workbook->add_format(size => 72);
942 $worksheet->write_utf16be_string('A3', $smiley, $big_font);
944 # Write a phrase in Cyrillic using a hex-encoded string
948 #
949 my $str = pack 'H*', '042d0442043e0020044404400430043704300020043d' .
950 '043000200440044304410441043a043e043c0021';
951 $worksheet->write_utf16be_string('A5', $str);
953 # Map a string to UTF-16BE using an external module.
957 #
958 my $map = Unicode::Map->new('ISO-8859-1');
959 my $utf16 = $map->to_unicode('Hello world!');
960 $worksheet->write_utf16be_string('A7', $utf16);
962 You can convert ASCII encodings to the required "UTF-16BE" format using
964 one of the many Unicode modules on CPAN. For example "Unicode::Map" and
965 "Unicode::String":
966 http://search.cpan.org/author/MSCHWARTZ/Unicode-Map/Map.pm
967 <http://search.cpan.org/author/MSCHWARTZ/Unicode-Map/Map.pm> and
968 http://search.cpan.org/author/GAAS/Unicode-String/String.pm
969 <http://search.cpan.org/author/GAAS/Unicode-String/String.pm>.
970 For a full list of the Perl Unicode modules see:
972 <http://search.cpan.org/search?query=unicode&mode=all>.
973 "UTF-16BE" is the format most often returned by "Perl" modules that
975 generate "UTF-16". To write "UTF-16" strings in little-endian format
976 use the "write_utf16be_string_le()" method below.
977 The "write_utf16be_string()" method was previously called
979 "write_unicode()". That, overly general, name is still supported but
980 deprecated.
981 See also the "unicode_*.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
983 distro.
984 write_utf16le_string($row, $column, $string, $format)
986 This method is the same as "write_utf16be()" except that the string
987 should be 16-bit characters in little-endian format. This is generally
988 referred to as "UTF-16LE". See "UNICODE IN EXCEL".
989 "UTF-16" data can be changed from little-endian to big-endian format
991 (and vice-versa) as follows:
992 $utf16be = pack 'n*', unpack 'v*', $utf16le;
994 keep_leading_zeros()
996 This method changes the default handling of integers with leading zeros
997 when using the "write()" method.
998 The "write()" method uses regular expressions to determine what type of
1000 data to write to an Excel worksheet. If the data looks like a number it
1001 writes a number using "write_number()". One problem with this approach
1002 is that occasionally data looks like a number but you don't want it
1003 treated as a number.
1004 Zip codes and ID numbers, for example, often start with a leading zero.
1006 If you write this data as a number then the leading zero(s) will be
1007 stripped. This is the also the default behaviour when you enter data
1008 manually in Excel.
1009 To get around this you can use one of three options. Write a formatted
1011 number, write the number as a string or use the "keep_leading_zeros()"
1012 method to change the default behaviour of "write()":
1013 # Implicitly write a number, the leading zero is removed: 1209
1015 $worksheet->write('A1', '01209');
1016 # Write a zero padded number using a format: 01209
1018 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => '00000');
1019 $worksheet->write('A2', '01209', $format1);
1020 # Write explicitly as a string: 01209
1022 $worksheet->write_string('A3', '01209');
1023 # Write implicitly as a string: 01209
1025 $worksheet->keep_leading_zeros();
1026 $worksheet->write('A4', '01209');
1027 The above code would generate a worksheet that looked like the
1029 following:
1030 -----------------------------------------------------------
1032 | | A | B | C | D | ...
1033 -----------------------------------------------------------
1034 | 1 | 1209 | | | | ...
1035 | 2 | 01209 | | | | ...
1036 | 3 | 01209 | | | | ...
1037 | 4 | 01209 | | | | ...
1038 The examples are on different sides of the cells due to the fact that
1040 Excel displays strings with a left justification and numbers with a
1041 right justification by default. You can change this by using a format
1042 to justify the data, see "CELL FORMATTING".
1043 It should be noted that if the user edits the data in examples "A3" and
1045 "A4" the strings will revert back to numbers. Again this is Excel's
1046 default behaviour. To avoid this you can use the text format "@":
1047 # Format as a string (01209)
1049 my $format2 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => '@');
1050 $worksheet->write_string('A5', '01209', $format2);
1051 The "keep_leading_zeros()" property is off by default. The
1053 "keep_leading_zeros()" method takes 0 or 1 as an argument. It defaults
1054 to 1 if an argument isn't specified:
1055 $worksheet->keep_leading_zeros(); # Set on
1057 $worksheet->keep_leading_zeros(1); # Set on
1058 $worksheet->keep_leading_zeros(0); # Set off
1059 See also the "add_write_handler()" method.
1061 write_blank($row, $column, $format)
1063 Write a blank cell specified by $row and $column:
1064 $worksheet->write_blank(0, 0, $format);
1066 This method is used to add formatting to a cell which doesn't contain a
1068 string or number value.
1069 Excel differentiates between an "Empty" cell and a "Blank" cell. An
1071 "Empty" cell is a cell which doesn't contain data whilst a "Blank" cell
1072 is a cell which doesn't contain data but does contain formatting. Excel
1073 stores "Blank" cells but ignores "Empty" cells.
1074 As such, if you write an empty cell without formatting it is ignored:
1076 $worksheet->write('A1', undef, $format); # write_blank()
1078 $worksheet->write('A2', undef ); # Ignored
1079 This seemingly uninteresting fact means that you can write arrays of
1081 data without special treatment for undef or empty string values.
1082 See the note about "Cell notation".
1084 write_row($row, $column, $array_ref, $format)
1086 The "write_row()" method can be used to write a 1D or 2D array of data
1087 in one go. This is useful for converting the results of a database
1088 query into an Excel worksheet. You must pass a reference to the array
1089 of data rather than the array itself. The "write()" method is then
1090 called for each element of the data. For example:
1091 @array = ('awk', 'gawk', 'mawk');
1093 $array_ref = \@array;
1094 $worksheet->write_row(0, 0, $array_ref);
1096 # The above example is equivalent to:
1098 $worksheet->write(0, 0, $array[0]);
1099 $worksheet->write(0, 1, $array[1]);
1100 $worksheet->write(0, 2, $array[2]);
1101 Note: For convenience the "write()" method behaves in the same way as
1103 "write_row()" if it is passed an array reference. Therefore the
1104 following two method calls are equivalent:
1105 $worksheet->write_row('A1', $array_ref); # Write a row of data
1107 $worksheet->write( 'A1', $array_ref); # Same thing
1108 As with all of the write methods the $format parameter is optional. If
1110 a format is specified it is applied to all the elements of the data
1111 array.
1112 Array references within the data will be treated as columns. This
1114 allows you to write 2D arrays of data in one go. For example:
1115 @eec = (
1117 ['maggie', 'milly', 'molly', 'may' ],
1118 [13, 14, 15, 16 ],
1119 ['shell', 'star', 'crab', 'stone']
1120 );
1121 $worksheet->write_row('A1', \@eec);
1123 Would produce a worksheet as follows:
1125 -----------------------------------------------------------
1127 | | A | B | C | D | E | ...
1128 -----------------------------------------------------------
1129 | 1 | maggie | 13 | shell | ... | ... | ...
1130 | 2 | milly | 14 | star | ... | ... | ...
1131 | 3 | molly | 15 | crab | ... | ... | ...
1132 | 4 | may | 16 | stone | ... | ... | ...
1133 | 5 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
1134 | 6 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
1135 To write the data in a row-column order refer to the "write_col()"
1137 method below.
1138 Any "undef" values in the data will be ignored unless a format is
1140 applied to the data, in which case a formatted blank cell will be
1141 written. In either case the appropriate row or column value will still
1142 be incremented.
1143 To find out more about array references refer to "perlref" and
1145 "perlreftut" in the main Perl documentation. To find out more about 2D
1146 arrays or "lists of lists" refer to "perllol".
1147 The "write_row()" method returns the first error encountered when
1149 writing the elements of the data or zero if no errors were encountered.
1150 See the return values described for the "write()" method above.
1151 See also the "write_arrays.pl" program in the "examples" directory of
1153 the distro.
1154 The "write_row()" method allows the following idiomatic conversion of a
1156 text file to an Excel file:
1157 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
1159 use strict;
1161 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
1162 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('file.xls');
1164 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
1165 open INPUT, 'file.txt' or die "Couldn't open file: $!";
1167 $worksheet->write($.-1, 0, [split]) while <INPUT>;
1169 write_col($row, $column, $array_ref, $format)
1171 The "write_col()" method can be used to write a 1D or 2D array of data
1172 in one go. This is useful for converting the results of a database
1173 query into an Excel worksheet. You must pass a reference to the array
1174 of data rather than the array itself. The "write()" method is then
1175 called for each element of the data. For example:
1176 @array = ('awk', 'gawk', 'mawk');
1178 $array_ref = \@array;
1179 $worksheet->write_col(0, 0, $array_ref);
1181 # The above example is equivalent to:
1183 $worksheet->write(0, 0, $array[0]);
1184 $worksheet->write(1, 0, $array[1]);
1185 $worksheet->write(2, 0, $array[2]);
1186 As with all of the write methods the $format parameter is optional. If
1188 a format is specified it is applied to all the elements of the data
1189 array.
1190 Array references within the data will be treated as rows. This allows
1192 you to write 2D arrays of data in one go. For example:
1193 @eec = (
1195 ['maggie', 'milly', 'molly', 'may' ],
1196 [13, 14, 15, 16 ],
1197 ['shell', 'star', 'crab', 'stone']
1198 );
1199 $worksheet->write_col('A1', \@eec);
1201 Would produce a worksheet as follows:
1203 -----------------------------------------------------------
1205 | | A | B | C | D | E | ...
1206 -----------------------------------------------------------
1207 | 1 | maggie | milly | molly | may | ... | ...
1208 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | ... | ...
1209 | 3 | shell | star | crab | stone | ... | ...
1210 | 4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
1211 | 5 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
1212 | 6 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
1213 To write the data in a column-row order refer to the "write_row()"
1215 method above.
1216 Any "undef" values in the data will be ignored unless a format is
1218 applied to the data, in which case a formatted blank cell will be
1219 written. In either case the appropriate row or column value will still
1220 be incremented.
1221 As noted above the "write()" method can be used as a synonym for
1223 "write_row()" and "write_row()" handles nested array refs as columns.
1224 Therefore, the following two method calls are equivalent although the
1225 more explicit call to "write_col()" would be preferable for
1226 maintainability:
1227 $worksheet->write_col('A1', $array_ref ); # Write a column of data
1229 $worksheet->write( 'A1', [ $array_ref ]); # Same thing
1230 To find out more about array references refer to "perlref" and
1232 "perlreftut" in the main Perl documentation. To find out more about 2D
1233 arrays or "lists of lists" refer to "perllol".
1234 The "write_col()" method returns the first error encountered when
1236 writing the elements of the data or zero if no errors were encountered.
1237 See the return values described for the "write()" method above.
1238 See also the "write_arrays.pl" program in the "examples" directory of
1240 the distro.
1241 write_date_time($row, $col, $date_string, $format)
1243 The "write_date_time()" method can be used to write a date or time to
1244 the cell specified by $row and $column:
1245 $worksheet->write_date_time('A1', '2004-05-13T23:20', $date_format);
1247 The $date_string should be in the following format:
1249 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss
1251 This conforms to an ISO8601 date but it should be noted that the full
1253 range of ISO8601 formats are not supported.
1254 The following variations on the $date_string parameter are permitted:
1256 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss # Standard format
1258 yyyy-mm-ddT # No time
1259 Thh:mm:ss.sss # No date
1260 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssZ # Additional Z (but not time zones)
1261 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss # No fractional seconds
1262 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm # No seconds
1263 Note that the "T" is required in all cases.
1265 A date should always have a $format, otherwise it will appear as a
1267 number, see "DATES AND TIME IN EXCEL" and "CELL FORMATTING". Here is a
1268 typical example:
1269 my $date_format = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'mm/dd/yy');
1271 $worksheet->write_date_time('A1', '2004-05-13T23:20', $date_format);
1272 Valid dates should be in the range 1900-01-01 to 9999-12-31, for the
1274 1900 epoch and 1904-01-01 to 9999-12-31, for the 1904 epoch. As with
1275 Excel, dates outside these ranges will be written as a string.
1276 See also the date_time.pl program in the "examples" directory of the
1278 distro.
1279 write_url($row, $col, $url, $label, $format)
1281 Write a hyperlink to a URL in the cell specified by $row and $column.
1282 The hyperlink is comprised of two elements: the visible label and the
1283 invisible link. The visible label is the same as the link unless an
1284 alternative label is specified. The parameters $label and the $format
1285 are optional and their position is interchangeable.
1286 The label is written using the "write()" method. Therefore it is
1288 possible to write strings, numbers or formulas as labels.
1289 There are four web style URI's supported: "http://", "https://",
1291 "ftp://" and "mailto:":
1292 $worksheet->write_url(0, 0, 'ftp://www.perl.org/' );
1294 $worksheet->write_url(1, 0, 'http://www.perl.com/', 'Perl home' );
1295 $worksheet->write_url('A3', 'http://www.perl.com/', $format );
1296 $worksheet->write_url('A4', 'http://www.perl.com/', 'Perl', $format);
1297 $worksheet->write_url('A5', 'mailto:jmcnamara@cpan.org' );
1298 There are two local URIs supported: "internal:" and "external:". These
1300 are used for hyperlinks to internal worksheet references or external
1301 workbook and worksheet references:
1302 $worksheet->write_url('A6', 'internal:Sheet2!A1' );
1304 $worksheet->write_url('A7', 'internal:Sheet2!A1', $format );
1305 $worksheet->write_url('A8', 'internal:Sheet2!A1:B2' );
1306 $worksheet->write_url('A9', q{internal:'Sales Data'!A1} );
1307 $worksheet->write_url('A10', 'external:c:\temp\foo.xls' );
1308 $worksheet->write_url('A11', 'external:c:\temp\foo.xls#Sheet2!A1' );
1309 $worksheet->write_url('A12', 'external:..\..\..\foo.xls' );
1310 $worksheet->write_url('A13', 'external:..\..\..\foo.xls#Sheet2!A1' );
1311 $worksheet->write_url('A13', 'external:\\\\NETWORK\share\foo.xls' );
1312 All of the these URI types are recognised by the "write()" method, see
1314 above.
1315 Worksheet references are typically of the form "Sheet1!A1". You can
1317 also refer to a worksheet range using the standard Excel notation:
1318 "Sheet1!A1:B2".
1319 In external links the workbook and worksheet name must be separated by
1321 the "#" character: "external:Workbook.xls#Sheet1!A1'".
1322 You can also link to a named range in the target worksheet. For example
1324 say you have a named range called "my_name" in the workbook
1325 "c:\temp\foo.xls" you could link to it as follows:
1326 $worksheet->write_url('A14', 'external:c:\temp\foo.xls#my_name');
1328 Note, you cannot currently create named ranges with
1330 "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel".
1331 Excel requires that worksheet names containing spaces or non
1333 alphanumeric characters are single quoted as follows "'Sales Data'!A1".
1334 If you need to do this in a single quoted string then you can either
1335 escape the single quotes "\'" or use the quote operator "q{}" as
1336 described in "perlop" in the main Perl documentation.
1337 Links to network files are also supported. MS/Novell Network files
1339 normally begin with two back slashes as follows "\\NETWORK\etc". In
1340 order to generate this in a single or double quoted string you will
1341 have to escape the backslashes, '\\\\NETWORK\etc'.
1342 If you are using double quote strings then you should be careful to
1344 escape anything that looks like a metacharacter. For more information
1345 see "perlfaq5: Why can't I use "C:\temp\foo" in DOS paths?".
1346 Finally, you can avoid most of these quoting problems by using forward
1348 slashes. These are translated internally to backslashes:
1349 $worksheet->write_url('A14', "external:c:/temp/foo.xls" );
1351 $worksheet->write_url('A15', 'external://NETWORK/share/foo.xls' );
1352 See also, the note about "Cell notation".
1354 write_url_range($row1, $col1, $row2, $col2, $url, $string, $format)
1356 This method is essentially the same as the "write_url()" method
1357 described above. The main difference is that you can specify a link for
1358 a range of cells:
1359 $worksheet->write_url(0, 0, 0, 3, 'ftp://www.perl.org/' );
1361 $worksheet->write_url(1, 0, 0, 3, 'http://www.perl.com/', 'Perl home');
1362 $worksheet->write_url('A3:D3', 'internal:Sheet2!A1' );
1363 $worksheet->write_url('A4:D4', 'external:c:\temp\foo.xls' );
1364 This method is generally only required when used in conjunction with
1366 merged cells. See the "merge_range()" method and the "merge" property
1367 of a Format object, "CELL FORMATTING".
1368 There is no way to force this behaviour through the "write()" method.
1370 The parameters $string and the $format are optional and their position
1372 is interchangeable. However, they are applied only to the first cell in
1373 the range.
1374 See also, the note about "Cell notation".
1376 write_formula($row, $column, $formula, $format, $value)
1378 Write a formula or function to the cell specified by $row and $column:
1379 $worksheet->write_formula(0, 0, '=$B$3 + B4' );
1381 $worksheet->write_formula(1, 0, '=SIN(PI()/4)');
1382 $worksheet->write_formula(2, 0, '=SUM(B1:B5)' );
1383 $worksheet->write_formula('A4', '=IF(A3>1,"Yes", "No")' );
1384 $worksheet->write_formula('A5', '=AVERAGE(1, 2, 3, 4)' );
1385 $worksheet->write_formula('A6', '=DATEVALUE("1-Jan-2001")');
1386 See the note about "Cell notation". For more information about writing
1388 Excel formulas see "FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL"
1389 See also the section "Improving performance when working with formulas"
1391 and the "store_formula()" and "repeat_formula()" methods.
1392 If required, it is also possible to specify the calculated value of the
1394 formula. This is occasionally necessary when working with non-Excel
1395 applications that don't calculated the value of the formula. The
1396 calculated $value is added at the end of the argument list:
1397 $worksheet->write('A1', '=2+2', $format, 4);
1399 However, this probably isn't something that will ever need to do. If
1401 you do use this feature then do so with care.
1402 store_formula($formula)
1404 The "store_formula()" method is used in conjunction with
1405 "repeat_formula()" to speed up the generation of repeated formulas. See
1406 "Improving performance when working with formulas" in "FORMULAS AND
1407 FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL".
1408 The "store_formula()" method pre-parses a textual representation of a
1410 formula and stores it for use at a later stage by the
1411 "repeat_formula()" method.
1412 "store_formula()" carries the same speed penalty as "write_formula()".
1414 However, in practice it will be used less frequently.
1415 The return value of this method is a scalar that can be thought of as a
1417 reference to a formula.
1418 my $sin = $worksheet->store_formula('=SIN(A1)');
1420 my $cos = $worksheet->store_formula('=COS(A1)');
1421 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B1', $sin, $format, 'A1', 'A2');
1423 $worksheet->repeat_formula('C1', $cos, $format, 'A1', 'A2');
1424 Although "store_formula()" is a worksheet method the return value can
1426 be used in any worksheet:
1427 my $now = $worksheet->store_formula('=NOW()');
1429 $worksheet1->repeat_formula('B1', $now);
1431 $worksheet2->repeat_formula('B1', $now);
1432 $worksheet3->repeat_formula('B1', $now);
1433 repeat_formula($row, $col, $formula, $format, ($pattern => $replace, ...))
1435 The "repeat_formula()" method is used in conjunction with
1436 "store_formula()" to speed up the generation of repeated formulas. See
1437 "Improving performance when working with formulas" in "FORMULAS AND
1438 FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL".
1439 In many respects "repeat_formula()" behaves like "write_formula()"
1441 except that it is significantly faster.
1442 The "repeat_formula()" method creates a new formula based on the pre-
1444 parsed tokens returned by "store_formula()". The new formula is
1445 generated by substituting $pattern, $replace pairs in the stored
1446 formula:
1447 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A1 * 3 + 50');
1449 for my $row (0..99) {
1451 $worksheet->repeat_formula($row, 1, $formula, $format, 'A1', 'A'.($row +1));
1452 }
1453 It should be noted that "repeat_formula()" doesn't modify the tokens.
1455 In the above example the substitution is always made against the
1456 original token, "A1", which doesn't change.
1457 As usual, you can use "undef" if you don't wish to specify a $format:
1459 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B2', $formula, $format, 'A1', 'A2');
1461 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B3', $formula, undef, 'A1', 'A3');
1462 The substitutions are made from left to right and you can use as many
1464 $pattern, $replace pairs as you need. However, each substitution is
1465 made only once:
1466 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A1 + A1');
1468 # Gives '=B1 + A1'
1470 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B1', $formula, undef, 'A1', 'B1');
1471 # Gives '=B1 + B1'
1473 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B2', $formula, undef, ('A1', 'B1') x 2);
1474 Since the $pattern is interpolated each time that it is used it is
1476 worth using the "qr" operator to quote the pattern. The "qr" operator
1477 is explained in the "perlop" man page.
1478 $worksheet->repeat_formula('B1', $formula, $format, qr/A1/, 'A2');
1480 Care should be taken with the values that are substituted. The formula
1482 returned by "repeat_formula()" contains several other tokens in
1483 addition to those in the formula and these might also match the
1484 pattern that you are trying to replace. In particular you should avoid
1485 substituting a single 0, 1, 2 or 3.
1486 You should also be careful to avoid false matches. For example the
1488 following snippet is meant to change the stored formula in steps from
1489 "=A1 + SIN(A1)" to "=A10 + SIN(A10)".
1490 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A1 + SIN(A1)');
1492 for my $row (1 .. 10) {
1494 $worksheet->repeat_formula($row -1, 1, $formula, undef,
1495 qw/A1/, 'A' . $row, #! Bad.
1496 qw/A1/, 'A' . $row #! Bad.
1497 );
1498 }
1499 However it contains a bug. In the last iteration of the loop when $row
1501 is 10 the following substitutions will occur:
1502 s/A1/A10/; changes =A1 + SIN(A1) to =A10 + SIN(A1)
1504 s/A1/A10/; changes =A10 + SIN(A1) to =A100 + SIN(A1) # !!
1505 The solution in this case is to use a more explicit match such as
1507 "qw/^A1$/":
1508 $worksheet->repeat_formula($row -1, 1, $formula, undef,
1510 qw/^A1$/, 'A' . $row,
1511 qw/^A1$/, 'A' . $row
1512 );
1513 Another similar problem occurs due to the fact that substitutions are
1515 made in order. For example the following snippet is meant to change the
1516 stored formula from "=A10 + A11" to "=A11 + A12":
1517 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A10 + A11');
1519 $worksheet->repeat_formula('A1', $formula, undef,
1521 qw/A10/, 'A11', #! Bad.
1522 qw/A11/, 'A12' #! Bad.
1523 );
1524 However, the actual substitution yields "=A12 + A11":
1526 s/A10/A11/; changes =A10 + A11 to =A11 + A11
1528 s/A11/A12/; changes =A11 + A11 to =A12 + A11 # !!
1529 The solution here would be to reverse the order of the substitutions or
1531 to start with a stored formula that won't yield a false match such as
1532 "=X10 + Y11":
1533 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=X10 + Y11');
1535 $worksheet->repeat_formula('A1', $formula, undef,
1537 qw/X10/, 'A11',
1538 qw/Y11/, 'A12'
1539 );
1540 If you think that you have a problem related to a false match you can
1542 check the tokens that you are substituting against as follows.
1543 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A1*5+4');
1545 print "@$formula\n";
1546 See also the "repeat.pl" program in the "examples" directory of the
1548 distro.
1549 write_comment($row, $column, $string, ...)
1551 The "write_comment()" method is used to add a comment to a cell. A cell
1552 comment is indicated in Excel by a small red triangle in the upper
1553 right-hand corner of the cell. Moving the cursor over the red triangle
1554 will reveal the comment.
1555 The following example shows how to add a comment to a cell:
1557 $worksheet->write (2, 2, 'Hello');
1559 $worksheet->write_comment(2, 2, 'This is a comment.');
1560 As usual you can replace the $row and $column parameters with an "A1"
1562 cell reference. See the note about "Cell notation".
1563 $worksheet->write ('C3', 'Hello');
1565 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'This is a comment.');
1566 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "write_comment()" method will
1568 also handle strings in "UTF-8" format.
1569 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', "\x{263a}"); # Smiley
1571 $worksheet->write_comment('C4', 'Comment ca va?');
1572 In addition to the basic 3 argument form of "write_comment()" you can
1574 pass in several optional key/value pairs to control the format of the
1575 comment. For example:
1576 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', visible => 1, author => 'Perl');
1578 Most of these options are quite specific and in general the default
1580 comment behaviour will be all that you need. However, should you need
1581 greater control over the format of the cell comment the following
1582 options are available:
1583 encoding
1585 author
1586 author_encoding
1587 visible
1588 x_scale
1589 width
1590 y_scale
1591 height
1592 color
1593 start_cell
1594 start_row
1595 start_col
1596 x_offset
1597 y_offset
1598 Option: encoding
1600 This option is used to indicate that the comment string is encoded
1601 as "UTF-16BE".
1602 my $comment = pack 'n', 0x263a; # UTF-16BE Smiley symbol
1604 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', $comment, encoding => 1);
1606 If you wish to use Unicode characters in the comment string then
1608 the preferred method is to use perl 5.8 and "UTF-8" strings, see
1609 "UNICODE IN EXCEL".
1610 Option: author
1612 This option is used to indicate who the author of the comment is.
1613 Excel displays the author of the comment in the status bar at the
1614 bottom of the worksheet. This is usually of interest in corporate
1615 environments where several people might review and provide comments
1616 to a workbook.
1617 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Atonement', author => 'Ian McEwan');
1619 Option: author_encoding
1621 This option is used to indicate that the author string is encoded
1622 as "UTF-16BE".
1623 Option: visible
1625 This option is used to make a cell comment visible when the
1626 worksheet is opened. The default behaviour in Excel is that
1627 comments are initially hidden. However, it is also possible in
1628 Excel to make individual or all comments visible. In
1629 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel individual comments can be made visible as
1630 follows:
1631 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', visible => 1);
1633 It is possible to make all comments in a worksheet visible using
1635 the "show_comments()" worksheet method (see below). Alternatively,
1636 if all of the cell comments have been made visible you can hide
1637 individual comments:
1638 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', visible => 0);
1640 Option: x_scale
1642 This option is used to set the width of the cell comment box as a
1643 factor of the default width.
1644 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', x_scale => 2);
1646 $worksheet->write_comment('C4', 'Hello', x_scale => 4.2);
1647 Option: width
1649 This option is used to set the width of the cell comment box
1650 explicitly in pixels.
1651 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', width => 200);
1653 Option: y_scale
1655 This option is used to set the height of the cell comment box as a
1656 factor of the default height.
1657 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', y_scale => 2);
1659 $worksheet->write_comment('C4', 'Hello', y_scale => 4.2);
1660 Option: height
1662 This option is used to set the height of the cell comment box
1663 explicitly in pixels.
1664 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', height => 200);
1666 Option: color
1668 This option is used to set the background colour of cell comment
1669 box. You can use one of the named colours recognised by
1670 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel or a colour index. See "COLOURS IN EXCEL".
1671 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', color => 'green');
1673 $worksheet->write_comment('C4', 'Hello', color => 0x35); # Orange
1674 Option: start_cell
1676 This option is used to set the cell in which the comment will
1677 appear. By default Excel displays comments one cell to the right
1678 and one cell above the cell to which the comment relates. However,
1679 you can change this behaviour if you wish. In the following example
1680 the comment which would appear by default in cell "D2" is moved to
1681 "E2".
1682 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', start_cell => 'E2');
1684 Option: start_row
1686 This option is used to set the row in which the comment will
1687 appear. See the "start_cell" option above. The row is zero indexed.
1688 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', start_row => 0);
1690 Option: start_col
1692 This option is used to set the column in which the comment will
1693 appear. See the "start_cell" option above. The column is zero
1694 indexed.
1695 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', start_col => 4);
1697 Option: x_offset
1699 This option is used to change the x offset, in pixels, of a comment
1700 within a cell:
1701 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', $comment, x_offset => 30);
1703 Option: y_offset
1705 This option is used to change the y offset, in pixels, of a comment
1706 within a cell:
1707 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', $comment, x_offset => 30);
1709 You can apply as many of these options as you require.
1711 Note about row height and comments. If you specify the height of a row
1713 that contains a comment then Spreadsheet::WriteExcel will adjust the
1714 height of the comment to maintain the default or user specified
1715 dimensions. However, the height of a row can also be adjusted
1716 automatically by Excel if the text wrap property is set or large fonts
1717 are used in the cell. This means that the height of the row is unknown
1718 to WriteExcel at run time and thus the comment box is stretched with
1719 the row. Use the "set_row()" method to specify the row height
1720 explicitly and avoid this problem.
1721 show_comments()
1723 This method is used to make all cell comments visible when a worksheet
1724 is opened.
1725 Individual comments can be made visible using the "visible" parameter
1727 of the "write_comment" method (see above):
1728 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', visible => 1);
1730 If all of the cell comments have been made visible you can hide
1732 individual comments as follows:
1733 $worksheet->write_comment('C3', 'Hello', visible => 0);
1735 add_write_handler($re, $code_ref)
1737 This method is used to extend the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel write()
1738 method to handle user defined data.
1739 If you refer to the section on "write()" above you will see that it
1741 acts as an alias for several more specific "write_*" methods. However,
1742 it doesn't always act in exactly the way that you would like it to.
1743 One solution is to filter the input data yourself and call the
1745 appropriate "write_*" method. Another approach is to use the
1746 "add_write_handler()" method to add your own automated behaviour to
1747 "write()".
1748 The "add_write_handler()" method take two arguments, $re, a regular
1750 expression to match incoming data and $code_ref a callback function to
1751 handle the matched data:
1752 $worksheet->add_write_handler(qr/^\d\d\d\d$/, \&my_write);
1754 (In the these examples the "qr" operator is used to quote the regular
1756 expression strings, see perlop for more details).
1757 The method is used as follows. say you wished to write 7 digit ID
1759 numbers as a string so that any leading zeros were preserved*, you
1760 could do something like the following:
1761 $worksheet->add_write_handler(qr/^\d{7}$/, \&write_my_id);
1763 sub write_my_id {
1766 my $worksheet = shift;
1767 return $worksheet->write_string(@_);
1768 }
1769 * You could also use the "keep_leading_zeros()" method for this.
1771 Then if you call "write()" with an appropriate string it will be
1773 handled automatically:
1774 # Writes 0000000. It would normally be written as a number; 0.
1776 $worksheet->write('A1', '0000000');
1777 The callback function will receive a reference to the calling worksheet
1779 and all of the other arguments that were passed to "write()". The
1780 callback will see an @_ argument list that looks like the following:
1781 $_[0] A ref to the calling worksheet. *
1783 $_[1] Zero based row number.
1784 $_[2] Zero based column number.
1785 $_[3] A number or string or token.
1786 $_[4] A format ref if any.
1787 $_[5] Any other arguments.
1788 ...
1789 * It is good style to shift this off the list so the @_ is the same
1791 as the argument list seen by write().
1792 Your callback should "return()" the return value of the "write_*"
1794 method that was called or "undef" to indicate that you rejected the
1795 match and want "write()" to continue as normal.
1796 So for example if you wished to apply the previous filter only to ID
1798 values that occur in the first column you could modify your callback
1799 function as follows:
1800 sub write_my_id {
1802 my $worksheet = shift;
1803 my $col = $_[1];
1804 if ($col == 0) {
1806 return $worksheet->write_string(@_);
1807 }
1808 else {
1809 # Reject the match and return control to write()
1810 return undef;
1811 }
1812 }
1813 Now, you will get different behaviour for the first column and other
1815 columns:
1816 $worksheet->write('A1', '0000000'); # Writes 0000000
1818 $worksheet->write('B1', '0000000'); # Writes 0
1819 You may add more than one handler in which case they will be called in
1821 the order that they were added.
1822 Note, the "add_write_handler()" method is particularly suited for
1824 handling dates.
1825 See the "write_handler 1-4" programs in the "examples" directory for
1827 further examples.
1828 insert_image($row, $col, $filename, $x, $y, $scale_x, $scale_y)
1830 This method can be used to insert a image into a worksheet. The image
1831 can be in PNG, JPEG or BMP format. The $x, $y, $scale_x and $scale_y
1832 parameters are optional.
1833 $worksheet1->insert_image('A1', 'perl.bmp');
1835 $worksheet2->insert_image('A1', '../images/perl.bmp');
1836 $worksheet3->insert_image('A1', '.c:\images\perl.bmp');
1837 The parameters $x and $y can be used to specify an offset from the top
1839 left hand corner of the cell specified by $row and $col. The offset
1840 values are in pixels.
1841 $worksheet1->insert_image('A1', 'perl.bmp', 32, 10);
1843 The default width of a cell is 63 pixels. The default height of a cell
1845 is 17 pixels. The pixels offsets can be calculated using the following
1846 relationships:
1847 Wp = int(12We) if We < 1
1849 Wp = int(7We +5) if We >= 1
1850 Hp = int(4/3He)
1851 where:
1853 We is the cell width in Excels units
1854 Wp is width in pixels
1855 He is the cell height in Excels units
1856 Hp is height in pixels
1857 The offsets can be greater than the width or height of the underlying
1859 cell. This can be occasionally useful if you wish to align two or more
1860 images relative to the same cell.
1861 The parameters $scale_x and $scale_y can be used to scale the inserted
1863 image horizontally and vertically:
1864 # Scale the inserted image: width x 2.0, height x 0.8
1866 $worksheet->insert_image('A1', 'perl.bmp', 0, 0, 2, 0.8);
1867 See also the "images.pl" program in the "examples" directory of the
1869 distro.
1870 Note: you must call "set_row()" or "set_column()" before
1872 "insert_image()" if you wish to change the default dimensions of any of
1873 the rows or columns that the image occupies. The height of a row can
1874 also change if you use a font that is larger than the default. This in
1875 turn will affect the scaling of your image. To avoid this you should
1876 explicitly set the height of the row using "set_row()" if it contains a
1877 font size that will change the row height.
1878 BMP images must be 24 bit, true colour, bitmaps. In general it is best
1880 to avoid BMP images since they aren't compressed. The older
1881 "insert_bitmap()" method is still supported but deprecated.
1882 insert_chart($row, $col, $chart, $x, $y, $scale_x, $scale_y)
1884 This method can be used to insert a Chart object into a worksheet. The
1885 Chart must be created by the "add_chart()" Workbook method and it must
1886 have the "embedded" option set.
1887 my $chart = $workbook->add_chart( type => 'line', embedded => 1 );
1889 # Configure the chart.
1891 ...
1892 # Insert the chart into the a worksheet.
1894 $worksheet->insert_chart('E2', $chart);
1895 See "add_chart()" for details on how to create the Chart object and
1897 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Chart for details on how to configure it. See
1898 also the "chart_*.pl" programs in the examples directory of the distro.
1899 The $x, $y, $scale_x and $scale_y parameters are optional.
1901 The parameters $x and $y can be used to specify an offset from the top
1903 left hand corner of the cell specified by $row and $col. The offset
1904 values are in pixels. See the "insert_image" method above for more
1905 information on sizes.
1906 $worksheet1->insert_chart('E2', $chart, 3, 3);
1908 The parameters $scale_x and $scale_y can be used to scale the inserted
1910 image horizontally and vertically:
1911 # Scale the width by 120% and the height by 150%
1913 $worksheet->insert_chart('E2', $chart, 0, 0, 1.2, 1.5);
1914 The easiest way to calculate the required scaling is to create a test
1916 chart worksheet with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. Then open the file,
1917 select the chart and drag the corner to get the required size. While
1918 holding down the mouse the scale of the resized chart is shown to the
1919 left of the formula bar.
1920 Note: you must call "set_row()" or "set_column()" before
1922 "insert_chart()" if you wish to change the default dimensions of any of
1923 the rows or columns that the chart occupies. The height of a row can
1924 also change if you use a font that is larger than the default. This in
1925 turn will affect the scaling of your chart. To avoid this you should
1926 explicitly set the height of the row using "set_row()" if it contains a
1927 font size that will change the row height.
1928 embed_chart($row, $col, $filename, $x, $y, $scale_x, $scale_y)
1930 This method can be used to insert a externally generated chart into a
1931 worksheet. The chart must first be extracted from an existing Excel
1932 file. This feature is semi-deprecated in favour of the "native" charts
1933 created using "add_chart()". Read "external_charts.txt" (or ".pod") in
1934 the external_charts directory of the distro for a full explanation.
1935 Here is an example:
1937 $worksheet->embed_chart('B2', 'sales_chart.bin');
1939 The $x, $y, $scale_x and $scale_y parameters are optional. See
1941 "insert_chart()" above for details.
1942 data_validation()
1944 The "data_validation()" method is used to construct an Excel data
1945 validation or to limit the user input to a dropdown list of values.
1946 $worksheet->data_validation('B3',
1948 {
1949 validate => 'integer',
1950 criteria => '>',
1951 value => 100,
1952 });
1953 $worksheet->data_validation('B5:B9',
1955 {
1956 validate => 'list',
1957 value => ['open', 'high', 'close'],
1958 });
1959 This method contains a lot of parameters and is described in detail in
1961 a separate section "DATA VALIDATION IN EXCEL".
1962 See also the "data_validate.pl" program in the examples directory of
1964 the distro
1965 get_name()
1967 The "get_name()" method is used to retrieve the name of a worksheet.
1968 For example:
1969 foreach my $sheet ($workbook->sheets()) {
1971 print $sheet->get_name();
1972 }
1973 For reasons related to the design of Spreadsheet::WriteExcel and to the
1975 internals of Excel there is no "set_name()" method. The only way to set
1976 the worksheet name is via the "add_worksheet()" method.
1977 activate()
1979 The "activate()" method is used to specify which worksheet is initially
1980 visible in a multi-sheet workbook:
1981 $worksheet1 = $workbook->add_worksheet('To');
1983 $worksheet2 = $workbook->add_worksheet('the');
1984 $worksheet3 = $workbook->add_worksheet('wind');
1985 $worksheet3->activate();
1987 This is similar to the Excel VBA activate method. More than one
1989 worksheet can be selected via the "select()" method, see below, however
1990 only one worksheet can be active.
1991 The default active worksheet is the first worksheet.
1993 select()
1995 The "select()" method is used to indicate that a worksheet is selected
1996 in a multi-sheet workbook:
1997 $worksheet1->activate();
1999 $worksheet2->select();
2000 $worksheet3->select();
2001 A selected worksheet has its tab highlighted. Selecting worksheets is a
2003 way of grouping them together so that, for example, several worksheets
2004 could be printed in one go. A worksheet that has been activated via the
2005 "activate()" method will also appear as selected.
2006 hide()
2008 The "hide()" method is used to hide a worksheet:
2009 $worksheet2->hide();
2011 You may wish to hide a worksheet in order to avoid confusing a user
2013 with intermediate data or calculations.
2014 A hidden worksheet can not be activated or selected so this method is
2016 mutually exclusive with the "activate()" and "select()" methods. In
2017 addition, since the first worksheet will default to being the active
2018 worksheet, you cannot hide the first worksheet without activating
2019 another sheet:
2020 $worksheet2->activate();
2022 $worksheet1->hide();
2023 set_first_sheet()
2025 The "activate()" method determines which worksheet is initially
2026 selected. However, if there are a large number of worksheets the
2027 selected worksheet may not appear on the screen. To avoid this you can
2028 select which is the leftmost visible worksheet using
2029 "set_first_sheet()":
2030 for (1..20) {
2032 $workbook->add_worksheet;
2033 }
2034 $worksheet21 = $workbook->add_worksheet();
2036 $worksheet22 = $workbook->add_worksheet();
2037 $worksheet21->set_first_sheet();
2039 $worksheet22->activate();
2040 This method is not required very often. The default value is the first
2042 worksheet.
2043 protect($password)
2045 The "protect()" method is used to protect a worksheet from
2046 modification:
2047 $worksheet->protect();
2049 It can be turned off in Excel via the "Tools->Protection->Unprotect
2051 Sheet" menu command.
2052 The "protect()" method also has the effect of enabling a cell's
2054 "locked" and "hidden" properties if they have been set. A "locked" cell
2055 cannot be edited. A "hidden" cell will display the results of a formula
2056 but not the formula itself. In Excel a cell's locked property is on by
2057 default.
2058 # Set some format properties
2060 my $unlocked = $workbook->add_format(locked => 0);
2061 my $hidden = $workbook->add_format(hidden => 1);
2062 # Enable worksheet protection
2064 $worksheet->protect();
2065 # This cell cannot be edited, it is locked by default
2067 $worksheet->write('A1', '=1+2');
2068 # This cell can be edited
2070 $worksheet->write('A2', '=1+2', $unlocked);
2071 # The formula in this cell isn't visible
2073 $worksheet->write('A3', '=1+2', $hidden);
2074 See also the "set_locked" and "set_hidden" format methods in "CELL
2076 FORMATTING".
2077 You can optionally add a password to the worksheet protection:
2079 $worksheet->protect('drowssap');
2081 Note, the worksheet level password in Excel provides very weak
2083 protection. It does not encrypt your data in any way and it is very
2084 easy to deactivate. Therefore, do not use the above method if you wish
2085 to protect sensitive data or calculations. However, before you get
2086 worried, Excel's own workbook level password protection does provide
2087 strong encryption in Excel 97+. For technical reasons this will never
2088 be supported by "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel".
2089 set_selection($first_row, $first_col, $last_row, $last_col)
2091 This method can be used to specify which cell or cells are selected in
2092 a worksheet. The most common requirement is to select a single cell, in
2093 which case $last_row and $last_col can be omitted. The active cell
2094 within a selected range is determined by the order in which $first and
2095 $last are specified. It is also possible to specify a cell or a range
2096 using A1 notation. See the note about "Cell notation".
2097 Examples:
2099 $worksheet1->set_selection(3, 3); # 1. Cell D4.
2101 $worksheet2->set_selection(3, 3, 6, 6); # 2. Cells D4 to G7.
2102 $worksheet3->set_selection(6, 6, 3, 3); # 3. Cells G7 to D4.
2103 $worksheet4->set_selection('D4'); # Same as 1.
2104 $worksheet5->set_selection('D4:G7'); # Same as 2.
2105 $worksheet6->set_selection('G7:D4'); # Same as 3.
2106 The default cell selections is (0, 0), 'A1'.
2108 set_row($row, $height, $format, $hidden, $level, $collapsed)
2110 This method can be used to change the default properties of a row. All
2111 parameters apart from $row are optional.
2112 The most common use for this method is to change the height of a row:
2114 $worksheet->set_row(0, 20); # Row 1 height set to 20
2116 If you wish to set the format without changing the height you can pass
2118 "undef" as the height parameter:
2119 $worksheet->set_row(0, undef, $format);
2121 The $format parameter will be applied to any cells in the row that
2123 don't have a format. For example
2124 $worksheet->set_row(0, undef, $format1); # Set the format for row 1
2126 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hello'); # Defaults to $format1
2127 $worksheet->write('B1', 'Hello', $format2); # Keeps $format2
2128 If you wish to define a row format in this way you should call the
2130 method before any calls to "write()". Calling it afterwards will
2131 overwrite any format that was previously specified.
2132 The $hidden parameter should be set to 1 if you wish to hide a row.
2134 This can be used, for example, to hide intermediary steps in a
2135 complicated calculation:
2136 $worksheet->set_row(0, 20, $format, 1);
2138 $worksheet->set_row(1, undef, undef, 1);
2139 The $level parameter is used to set the outline level of the row.
2141 Outlines are described in "OUTLINES AND GROUPING IN EXCEL". Adjacent
2142 rows with the same outline level are grouped together into a single
2143 outline.
2144 The following example sets an outline level of 1 for rows 1 and 2
2146 (zero-indexed):
2147 $worksheet->set_row(1, undef, undef, 0, 1);
2149 $worksheet->set_row(2, undef, undef, 0, 1);
2150 The $hidden parameter can also be used to hide collapsed outlined rows
2152 when used in conjunction with the $level parameter.
2153 $worksheet->set_row(1, undef, undef, 1, 1);
2155 $worksheet->set_row(2, undef, undef, 1, 1);
2156 For collapsed outlines you should also indicate which row has the
2158 collapsed "+" symbol using the optional $collapsed parameter.
2159 $worksheet->set_row(3, undef, undef, 0, 0, 1);
2161 For a more complete example see the "outline.pl" and
2163 "outline_collapsed.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
2164 distro.
2165 Excel allows up to 7 outline levels. Therefore the $level parameter
2167 should be in the range "0 <= $level <= 7".
2168 set_column($first_col, $last_col, $width, $format, $hidden, $level,
2170 $collapsed)
2171 This method can be used to change the default properties of a single
2172 column or a range of columns. All parameters apart from $first_col and
2173 $last_col are optional.
2174 If "set_column()" is applied to a single column the value of $first_col
2176 and $last_col should be the same. In the case where $last_col is zero
2177 it is set to the same value as $first_col.
2178 It is also possible, and generally clearer, to specify a column range
2180 using the form of A1 notation used for columns. See the note about
2181 "Cell notation".
2182 Examples:
2184 $worksheet->set_column(0, 0, 20); # Column A width set to 20
2186 $worksheet->set_column(1, 3, 30); # Columns B-D width set to 30
2187 $worksheet->set_column('E:E', 20); # Column E width set to 20
2188 $worksheet->set_column('F:H', 30); # Columns F-H width set to 30
2189 The width corresponds to the column width value that is specified in
2191 Excel. It is approximately equal to the length of a string in the
2192 default font of Arial 10. Unfortunately, there is no way to specify
2193 "AutoFit" for a column in the Excel file format. This feature is only
2194 available at runtime from within Excel.
2195 As usual the $format parameter is optional, for additional information,
2197 see "CELL FORMATTING". If you wish to set the format without changing
2198 the width you can pass "undef" as the width parameter:
2199 $worksheet->set_column(0, 0, undef, $format);
2201 The $format parameter will be applied to any cells in the column that
2203 don't have a format. For example
2204 $worksheet->set_column('A:A', undef, $format1); # Set format for col 1
2206 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hello'); # Defaults to $format1
2207 $worksheet->write('A2', 'Hello', $format2); # Keeps $format2
2208 If you wish to define a column format in this way you should call the
2210 method before any calls to "write()". If you call it afterwards it
2211 won't have any effect.
2212 A default row format takes precedence over a default column format
2214 $worksheet->set_row(0, undef, $format1); # Set format for row 1
2216 $worksheet->set_column('A:A', undef, $format2); # Set format for col 1
2217 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hello'); # Defaults to $format1
2218 $worksheet->write('A2', 'Hello'); # Defaults to $format2
2219 The $hidden parameter should be set to 1 if you wish to hide a column.
2221 This can be used, for example, to hide intermediary steps in a
2222 complicated calculation:
2223 $worksheet->set_column('D:D', 20, $format, 1);
2225 $worksheet->set_column('E:E', undef, undef, 1);
2226 The $level parameter is used to set the outline level of the column.
2228 Outlines are described in "OUTLINES AND GROUPING IN EXCEL". Adjacent
2229 columns with the same outline level are grouped together into a single
2230 outline.
2231 The following example sets an outline level of 1 for columns B to G:
2233 $worksheet->set_column('B:G', undef, undef, 0, 1);
2235 The $hidden parameter can also be used to hide collapsed outlined
2237 columns when used in conjunction with the $level parameter.
2238 $worksheet->set_column('B:G', undef, undef, 1, 1);
2240 For collapsed outlines you should also indicate which row has the
2242 collapsed "+" symbol using the optional $collapsed parameter.
2243 $worksheet->set_column('H:H', undef, undef, 0, 0, 1);
2245 For a more complete example see the "outline.pl" and
2247 "outline_collapsed.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
2248 distro.
2249 Excel allows up to 7 outline levels. Therefore the $level parameter
2251 should be in the range "0 <= $level <= 7".
2252 outline_settings($visible, $symbols_below, $symbols_right, $auto_style)
2254 The "outline_settings()" method is used to control the appearance of
2255 outlines in Excel. Outlines are described in "OUTLINES AND GROUPING IN
2256 EXCEL".
2257 The $visible parameter is used to control whether or not outlines are
2259 visible. Setting this parameter to 0 will cause all outlines on the
2260 worksheet to be hidden. They can be unhidden in Excel by means of the
2261 "Show Outline Symbols" command button. The default setting is 1 for
2262 visible outlines.
2263 $worksheet->outline_settings(0);
2265 The $symbols_below parameter is used to control whether the row outline
2267 symbol will appear above or below the outline level bar. The default
2268 setting is 1 for symbols to appear below the outline level bar.
2269 The "symbols_right" parameter is used to control whether the column
2271 outline symbol will appear to the left or the right of the outline
2272 level bar. The default setting is 1 for symbols to appear to the right
2273 of the outline level bar.
2274 The $auto_style parameter is used to control whether the automatic
2276 outline generator in Excel uses automatic styles when creating an
2277 outline. This has no effect on a file generated by
2278 "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel" but it does have an effect on how the
2279 worksheet behaves after it is created. The default setting is 0 for
2280 "Automatic Styles" to be turned off.
2281 The default settings for all of these parameters correspond to Excel's
2283 default parameters.
2284 The worksheet parameters controlled by "outline_settings()" are rarely
2286 used.
2287 freeze_panes($row, $col, $top_row, $left_col)
2289 This method can be used to divide a worksheet into horizontal or
2290 vertical regions known as panes and to also "freeze" these panes so
2291 that the splitter bars are not visible. This is the same as the
2292 "Window->Freeze Panes" menu command in Excel
2293 The parameters $row and $col are used to specify the location of the
2295 split. It should be noted that the split is specified at the top or
2296 left of a cell and that the method uses zero based indexing. Therefore
2297 to freeze the first row of a worksheet it is necessary to specify the
2298 split at row 2 (which is 1 as the zero-based index). This might lead
2299 you to think that you are using a 1 based index but this is not the
2300 case.
2301 You can set one of the $row and $col parameters as zero if you do not
2303 want either a vertical or horizontal split.
2304 Examples:
2306 $worksheet->freeze_panes(1, 0); # Freeze the first row
2308 $worksheet->freeze_panes('A2'); # Same using A1 notation
2309 $worksheet->freeze_panes(0, 1); # Freeze the first column
2310 $worksheet->freeze_panes('B1'); # Same using A1 notation
2311 $worksheet->freeze_panes(1, 2); # Freeze first row and first 2 columns
2312 $worksheet->freeze_panes('C2'); # Same using A1 notation
2313 The parameters $top_row and $left_col are optional. They are used to
2315 specify the top-most or left-most visible row or column in the
2316 scrolling region of the panes. For example to freeze the first row and
2317 to have the scrolling region begin at row twenty:
2318 $worksheet->freeze_panes(1, 0, 20, 0);
2320 You cannot use A1 notation for the $top_row and $left_col parameters.
2322 See also the "panes.pl" program in the "examples" directory of the
2324 distribution.
2325 split_panes($y, $x, $top_row, $left_col)
2327 This method can be used to divide a worksheet into horizontal or
2328 vertical regions known as panes. This method is different from the
2329 "freeze_panes()" method in that the splits between the panes will be
2330 visible to the user and each pane will have its own scroll bars.
2331 The parameters $y and $x are used to specify the vertical and
2333 horizontal position of the split. The units for $y and $x are the same
2334 as those used by Excel to specify row height and column width. However,
2335 the vertical and horizontal units are different from each other.
2336 Therefore you must specify the $y and $x parameters in terms of the row
2337 heights and column widths that you have set or the default values which
2338 are 12.75 for a row and 8.43 for a column.
2339 You can set one of the $y and $x parameters as zero if you do not want
2341 either a vertical or horizontal split. The parameters $top_row and
2342 $left_col are optional. They are used to specify the top-most or left-
2343 most visible row or column in the bottom-right pane.
2344 Example:
2346 $worksheet->split_panes(12.75, 0, 1, 0); # First row
2348 $worksheet->split_panes(0, 8.43, 0, 1); # First column
2349 $worksheet->split_panes(12.75, 8.43, 1, 1); # First row and column
2350 You cannot use A1 notation with this method.
2352 See also the "freeze_panes()" method and the "panes.pl" program in the
2354 "examples" directory of the distribution.
2355 Note: This "split_panes()" method was called "thaw_panes()" in older
2357 versions. The older name is still available for backwards
2358 compatibility.
2359 merge_range($first_row, $first_col, $last_row, $last_col, $token, $format,
2361 $utf_16_be)
2362 Merging cells can be achieved by setting the "merge" property of a
2363 Format object, see "CELL FORMATTING". However, this only allows simple
2364 Excel5 style horizontal merging which Excel refers to as "center across
2365 selection".
2366 The "merge_range()" method allows you to do Excel97+ style formatting
2368 where the cells can contain other types of alignment in addition to the
2369 merging:
2370 my $format = $workbook->add_format(
2372 border => 6,
2373 valign => 'vcenter',
2374 align => 'center',
2375 );
2376 $worksheet->merge_range('B3:D4', 'Vertical and horizontal', $format);
2378 WARNING. The format object that is used with a "merge_range()" method
2380 call is marked internally as being associated with a merged range. It
2381 is a fatal error to use a merged format in a non-merged cell. Instead
2382 you should use separate formats for merged and non-merged cells. This
2383 restriction will be removed in a future release.
2384 The $utf_16_be parameter is optional, see below.
2386 "merge_range()" writes its $token argument using the worksheet
2388 "write()" method. Therefore it will handle numbers, strings, formulas
2389 or urls as required.
2390 Setting the "merge" property of the format isn't required when you are
2392 using "merge_range()". In fact using it will exclude the use of any
2393 other horizontal alignment option.
2394 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "merge_range()" method will
2396 also handle strings in "UTF-8" format.
2397 $worksheet->merge_range('B3:D4', "\x{263a}", $format); # Smiley
2399 On earlier Perl systems your can specify "UTF-16BE" worksheet names
2401 using an additional optional parameter:
2402 my $str = pack 'n', 0x263a;
2404 $worksheet->merge_range('B3:D4', $str, $format, 1); # Smiley
2405 The full possibilities of this method are shown in the "merge3.pl" to
2407 "merge6.pl" programs in the "examples" directory of the distribution.
2408 set_zoom($scale)
2410 Set the worksheet zoom factor in the range "10 <= $scale <= 400":
2411 $worksheet1->set_zoom(50);
2413 $worksheet2->set_zoom(75);
2414 $worksheet3->set_zoom(300);
2415 $worksheet4->set_zoom(400);
2416 The default zoom factor is 100. You cannot zoom to "Selection" because
2418 it is calculated by Excel at run-time.
2419 Note, "set_zoom()" does not affect the scale of the printed page. For
2421 that you should use "set_print_scale()".
2422 right_to_left()
2424 The "right_to_left()" method is used to change the default direction of
2425 the worksheet from left-to-right, with the A1 cell in the top left, to
2426 right-to-left, with the he A1 cell in the top right.
2427 $worksheet->right_to_left();
2429 This is useful when creating Arabic, Hebrew or other near or far
2431 eastern worksheets that use right-to-left as the default direction.
2432 hide_zero()
2434 The "hide_zero()" method is used to hide any zero values that appear in
2435 cells.
2436 $worksheet->hide_zero();
2438 In Excel this option is found under Tools->Options->View.
2440 set_tab_color()
2442 The "set_tab_color()" method is used to change the colour of the
2443 worksheet tab. This feature is only available in Excel 2002 and later.
2444 You can use one of the standard colour names provided by the Format
2445 object or a colour index. See "COLOURS IN EXCEL" and the
2446 "set_custom_color()" method.
2447 $worksheet1->set_tab_color('red');
2449 $worksheet2->set_tab_color(0x0C);
2450 See the "tab_colors.pl" program in the examples directory of the
2452 distro.
2453 autofilter($first_row, $first_col, $last_row, $last_col)
2455 This method allows an autofilter to be added to a worksheet. An
2456 autofilter is a way of adding drop down lists to the headers of a 2D
2457 range of worksheet data. This is turn allow users to filter the data
2458 based on simple criteria so that some data is shown and some is hidden.
2459 To add an autofilter to a worksheet:
2461 $worksheet->autofilter(0, 0, 10, 3);
2463 $worksheet->autofilter('A1:D11'); # Same as above in A1 notation.
2464 Filter conditions can be applied using the "filter_column()" method.
2466 See the "autofilter.pl" program in the examples directory of the distro
2468 for a more detailed example.
2469 filter_column($column, $expression)
2471 The "filter_column" method can be used to filter columns in a
2472 autofilter range based on simple conditions.
2473 NOTE: It isn't sufficient to just specify the filter condition. You
2475 must also hide any rows that don't match the filter condition. Rows are
2476 hidden using the "set_row()" "visible" parameter.
2477 "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel" cannot do this automatically since it isn't
2478 part of the file format. See the "autofilter.pl" program in the
2479 examples directory of the distro for an example.
2480 The conditions for the filter are specified using simple expressions:
2482 $worksheet->filter_column('A', 'x > 2000');
2484 $worksheet->filter_column('B', 'x > 2000 and x < 5000');
2485 The $column parameter can either be a zero indexed column number or a
2487 string column name.
2488 The following operators are available:
2490 Operator Synonyms
2492 == = eq =~
2493 != <> ne !=
2494 >
2495 <
2496 >=
2497 <=
2498 and &&
2500 or ||
2501 The operator synonyms are just syntactic sugar to make you more
2503 comfortable using the expressions. It is important to remember that the
2504 expressions will be interpreted by Excel and not by perl.
2505 An expression can comprise a single statement or two statements
2507 separated by the "and" and "or" operators. For example:
2508 'x < 2000'
2510 'x > 2000'
2511 'x == 2000'
2512 'x > 2000 and x < 5000'
2513 'x == 2000 or x == 5000'
2514 Filtering of blank or non-blank data can be achieved by using a value
2516 of "Blanks" or "NonBlanks" in the expression:
2517 'x == Blanks'
2519 'x == NonBlanks'
2520 Top 10 style filters can be specified using a expression like the
2522 following:
2523 Top|Bottom 1-500 Items|%
2525 For example:
2527 'Top 10 Items'
2529 'Bottom 5 Items'
2530 'Top 25 %'
2531 'Bottom 50 %'
2532 Excel also allows some simple string matching operations:
2534 'x =~ b*' # begins with b
2536 'x !~ b*' # doesn't begin with b
2537 'x =~ *b' # ends with b
2538 'x !~ *b' # doesn't end with b
2539 'x =~ *b*' # contains b
2540 'x !~ *b*' # doesn't contains b
2541 You can also use "*" to match any character or number and "?" to match
2543 any single character or number. No other regular expression quantifier
2544 is supported by Excel's filters. Excel's regular expression characters
2545 can be escaped using "~".
2546 The placeholder variable "x" in the above examples can be replaced by
2548 any simple string. The actual placeholder name is ignored internally so
2549 the following are all equivalent:
2550 'x < 2000'
2552 'col < 2000'
2553 'Price < 2000'
2554 Also, note that a filter condition can only be applied to a column in a
2556 range specified by the "autofilter()" Worksheet method.
2557 See the "autofilter.pl" program in the examples directory of the distro
2559 for a more detailed example.
2560
2562 Page set-up methods affect the way that a worksheet looks when it is
2563 printed. They control features such as page headers and footers and
2564 margins. These methods are really just standard worksheet methods. They
2565 are documented here in a separate section for the sake of clarity.
2566 The following methods are available for page set-up:
2568 set_landscape()
2570 set_portrait()
2571 set_page_view()
2572 set_paper()
2573 center_horizontally()
2574 center_vertically()
2575 set_margins()
2576 set_header()
2577 set_footer()
2578 repeat_rows()
2579 repeat_columns()
2580 hide_gridlines()
2581 print_row_col_headers()
2582 print_area()
2583 print_across()
2584 fit_to_pages()
2585 set_start_page()
2586 set_print_scale()
2587 set_h_pagebreaks()
2588 set_v_pagebreaks()
2589 A common requirement when working with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel is to
2591 apply the same page set-up features to all of the worksheets in a
2592 workbook. To do this you can use the "sheets()" method of the
2593 "workbook" class to access the array of worksheets in a workbook:
2594 foreach $worksheet ($workbook->sheets()) {
2596 $worksheet->set_landscape();
2597 }
2598 set_landscape()
2600 This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet's printed
2601 page to landscape:
2602 $worksheet->set_landscape(); # Landscape mode
2604 set_portrait()
2606 This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet's printed
2607 page to portrait. The default worksheet orientation is portrait, so you
2608 won't generally need to call this method.
2609 $worksheet->set_portrait(); # Portrait mode
2611 set_page_view()
2613 This method is used to display the worksheet in "Page View" mode. This
2614 is currently only supported by Mac Excel, where it is the default.
2615 $worksheet->set_page_view();
2617 set_paper($index)
2619 This method is used to set the paper format for the printed output of a
2620 worksheet. The following paper styles are available:
2621 Index Paper format Paper size
2623 ===== ============ ==========
2624 0 Printer default -
2625 1 Letter 8 1/2 x 11 in
2626 2 Letter Small 8 1/2 x 11 in
2627 3 Tabloid 11 x 17 in
2628 4 Ledger 17 x 11 in
2629 5 Legal 8 1/2 x 14 in
2630 6 Statement 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in
2631 7 Executive 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 in
2632 8 A3 297 x 420 mm
2633 9 A4 210 x 297 mm
2634 10 A4 Small 210 x 297 mm
2635 11 A5 148 x 210 mm
2636 12 B4 250 x 354 mm
2637 13 B5 182 x 257 mm
2638 14 Folio 8 1/2 x 13 in
2639 15 Quarto 215 x 275 mm
2640 16 - 10x14 in
2641 17 - 11x17 in
2642 18 Note 8 1/2 x 11 in
2643 19 Envelope 9 3 7/8 x 8 7/8
2644 20 Envelope 10 4 1/8 x 9 1/2
2645 21 Envelope 11 4 1/2 x 10 3/8
2646 22 Envelope 12 4 3/4 x 11
2647 23 Envelope 14 5 x 11 1/2
2648 24 C size sheet -
2649 25 D size sheet -
2650 26 E size sheet -
2651 27 Envelope DL 110 x 220 mm
2652 28 Envelope C3 324 x 458 mm
2653 29 Envelope C4 229 x 324 mm
2654 30 Envelope C5 162 x 229 mm
2655 31 Envelope C6 114 x 162 mm
2656 32 Envelope C65 114 x 229 mm
2657 33 Envelope B4 250 x 353 mm
2658 34 Envelope B5 176 x 250 mm
2659 35 Envelope B6 176 x 125 mm
2660 36 Envelope 110 x 230 mm
2661 37 Monarch 3.875 x 7.5 in
2662 38 Envelope 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 in
2663 39 Fanfold 14 7/8 x 11 in
2664 40 German Std Fanfold 8 1/2 x 12 in
2665 41 German Legal Fanfold 8 1/2 x 13 in
2666 Note, it is likely that not all of these paper types will be available
2668 to the end user since it will depend on the paper formats that the
2669 user's printer supports. Therefore, it is best to stick to standard
2670 paper types.
2671 $worksheet->set_paper(1); # US Letter
2673 $worksheet->set_paper(9); # A4
2674 If you do not specify a paper type the worksheet will print using the
2676 printer's default paper.
2677 center_horizontally()
2679 Center the worksheet data horizontally between the margins on the
2680 printed page:
2681 $worksheet->center_horizontally();
2683 center_vertically()
2685 Center the worksheet data vertically between the margins on the printed
2686 page:
2687 $worksheet->center_vertically();
2689 set_margins($inches)
2691 There are several methods available for setting the worksheet margins
2692 on the printed page:
2693 set_margins() # Set all margins to the same value
2695 set_margins_LR() # Set left and right margins to the same value
2696 set_margins_TB() # Set top and bottom margins to the same value
2697 set_margin_left(); # Set left margin
2698 set_margin_right(); # Set right margin
2699 set_margin_top(); # Set top margin
2700 set_margin_bottom(); # Set bottom margin
2701 All of these methods take a distance in inches as a parameter. Note: 1
2703 inch = 25.4mm. ;-) The default left and right margin is 0.75 inch. The
2704 default top and bottom margin is 1.00 inch.
2705 set_header($string, $margin)
2707 Headers and footers are generated using a $string which is a
2708 combination of plain text and control characters. The $margin parameter
2709 is optional.
2710 The available control character are:
2712 Control Category Description
2714 ======= ======== ===========
2715 &L Justification Left
2716 &C Center
2717 &R Right
2718 &P Information Page number
2720 &N Total number of pages
2721 &D Date
2722 &T Time
2723 &F File name
2724 &A Worksheet name
2725 &Z Workbook path
2726 &fontsize Font Font size
2728 &"font,style" Font name and style
2729 &U Single underline
2730 &E Double underline
2731 &S Strikethrough
2732 &X Superscript
2733 &Y Subscript
2734 && Miscellaneous Literal ampersand &
2736 Text in headers and footers can be justified (aligned) to the left,
2738 center and right by prefixing the text with the control characters &L,
2739 &C and &R.
2740 For example (with ASCII art representation of the results):
2742 $worksheet->set_header('&LHello');
2744 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2746 | |
2747 | Hello |
2748 | |
2749 $worksheet->set_header('&CHello');
2752 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2754 | |
2755 | Hello |
2756 | |
2757 $worksheet->set_header('&RHello');
2760 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2762 | |
2763 | Hello |
2764 | |
2765 For simple text, if you do not specify any justification the text will
2767 be centred. However, you must prefix the text with &C if you specify a
2768 font name or any other formatting:
2769 $worksheet->set_header('Hello');
2771 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2773 | |
2774 | Hello |
2775 | |
2776 You can have text in each of the justification regions:
2778 $worksheet->set_header('&LCiao&CBello&RCielo');
2780 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2782 | |
2783 | Ciao Bello Cielo |
2784 | |
2785 The information control characters act as variables that Excel will
2787 update as the workbook or worksheet changes. Times and dates are in the
2788 users default format:
2789 $worksheet->set_header('&CPage &P of &N');
2791 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2793 | |
2794 | Page 1 of 6 |
2795 | |
2796 $worksheet->set_header('&CUpdated at &T');
2799 ---------------------------------------------------------------
2801 | |
2802 | Updated at 12:30 PM |
2803 | |
2804 You can specify the font size of a section of the text by prefixing it
2806 with the control character &n where "n" is the font size:
2807 $worksheet1->set_header('&C&30Hello Big' );
2809 $worksheet2->set_header('&C&10Hello Small');
2810 You can specify the font of a section of the text by prefixing it with
2812 the control sequence "&"font,style"" where "fontname" is a font name
2813 such as "Courier New" or "Times New Roman" and "style" is one of the
2814 standard Windows font descriptions: "Regular", "Italic", "Bold" or
2815 "Bold Italic":
2816 $worksheet1->set_header('&C&"Courier New,Italic"Hello');
2818 $worksheet2->set_header('&C&"Courier New,Bold Italic"Hello');
2819 $worksheet3->set_header('&C&"Times New Roman,Regular"Hello');
2820 It is possible to combine all of these features together to create
2822 sophisticated headers and footers. As an aid to setting up complicated
2823 headers and footers you can record a page set-up as a macro in Excel
2824 and look at the format strings that VBA produces. Remember however that
2825 VBA uses two double quotes "" to indicate a single double quote. For
2826 the last example above the equivalent VBA code looks like this:
2827 .LeftHeader = ""
2829 .CenterHeader = "&""Times New Roman,Regular""Hello"
2830 .RightHeader = ""
2831 To include a single literal ampersand "&" in a header or footer you
2833 should use a double ampersand "&&":
2834 $worksheet1->set_header('&CCuriouser && Curiouser - Attorneys at Law');
2836 As stated above the margin parameter is optional. As with the other
2838 margins the value should be in inches. The default header and footer
2839 margin is 0.50 inch. The header and footer margin size can be set as
2840 follows:
2841 $worksheet->set_header('&CHello', 0.75);
2843 The header and footer margins are independent of the top and bottom
2845 margins.
2846 Note, the header or footer string must be less than 255 characters.
2848 Strings longer than this will not be written and a warning will be
2849 generated.
2850 On systems with "perl 5.8" and later the "set_header()" method can also
2852 handle Unicode strings in "UTF-8" format.
2853 $worksheet->set_header("&C\x{263a}")
2855 See, also the "headers.pl" program in the "examples" directory of the
2857 distribution.
2858 set_footer()
2860 The syntax of the "set_footer()" method is the same as "set_header()",
2861 see above.
2862 repeat_rows($first_row, $last_row)
2864 Set the number of rows to repeat at the top of each printed page.
2865 For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first row
2867 or rows of the worksheet print out at the top of each page. This can be
2868 achieved by using the "repeat_rows()" method. The parameters $first_row
2869 and $last_row are zero based. The $last_row parameter is optional if
2870 you only wish to specify one row:
2871 $worksheet1->repeat_rows(0); # Repeat the first row
2873 $worksheet2->repeat_rows(0, 1); # Repeat the first two rows
2874 repeat_columns($first_col, $last_col)
2876 Set the columns to repeat at the left hand side of each printed page.
2877 For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first
2879 column or columns of the worksheet print out at the left hand side of
2880 each page. This can be achieved by using the "repeat_columns()" method.
2881 The parameters $first_column and $last_column are zero based. The
2882 $last_column parameter is optional if you only wish to specify one
2883 column. You can also specify the columns using A1 column notation, see
2884 the note about "Cell notation".
2885 $worksheet1->repeat_columns(0); # Repeat the first column
2887 $worksheet2->repeat_columns(0, 1); # Repeat the first two columns
2888 $worksheet3->repeat_columns('A:A'); # Repeat the first column
2889 $worksheet4->repeat_columns('A:B'); # Repeat the first two columns
2890 hide_gridlines($option)
2892 This method is used to hide the gridlines on the screen and printed
2893 page. Gridlines are the lines that divide the cells on a worksheet.
2894 Screen and printed gridlines are turned on by default in an Excel
2895 worksheet. If you have defined your own cell borders you may wish to
2896 hide the default gridlines.
2897 $worksheet->hide_gridlines();
2899 The following values of $option are valid:
2901 0 : Don't hide gridlines
2903 1 : Hide printed gridlines only
2904 2 : Hide screen and printed gridlines
2905 If you don't supply an argument or use "undef" the default option is 1,
2907 i.e. only the printed gridlines are hidden.
2908 print_row_col_headers()
2910 Set the option to print the row and column headers on the printed page.
2911 An Excel worksheet looks something like the following;
2913 ------------------------------------------
2915 | | A | B | C | D | ...
2916 ------------------------------------------
2917 | 1 | | | | | ...
2918 | 2 | | | | | ...
2919 | 3 | | | | | ...
2920 | 4 | | | | | ...
2921 |...| ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
2922 The headers are the letters and numbers at the top and the left of the
2924 worksheet. Since these headers serve mainly as a indication of position
2925 on the worksheet they generally do not appear on the printed page. If
2926 you wish to have them printed you can use the "print_row_col_headers()"
2927 method :
2928 $worksheet->print_row_col_headers();
2930 Do not confuse these headers with page headers as described in the
2932 "set_header()" section above.
2933 print_area($first_row, $first_col, $last_row, $last_col)
2935 This method is used to specify the area of the worksheet that will be
2936 printed. All four parameters must be specified. You can also use A1
2937 notation, see the note about "Cell notation".
2938 $worksheet1->print_area('A1:H20'); # Cells A1 to H20
2940 $worksheet2->print_area(0, 0, 19, 7); # The same
2941 $worksheet2->print_area('A:H'); # Columns A to H if rows have data
2942 print_across()
2944 The "print_across" method is used to change the default print
2945 direction. This is referred to by Excel as the sheet "page order".
2946 $worksheet->print_across();
2948 The default page order is shown below for a worksheet that extends over
2950 4 pages. The order is called "down then across":
2951 [1] [3]
2953 [2] [4]
2954 However, by using the "print_across" method the print order will be
2956 changed to "across then down":
2957 [1] [2]
2959 [3] [4]
2960 fit_to_pages($width, $height)
2962 The "fit_to_pages()" method is used to fit the printed area to a
2963 specific number of pages both vertically and horizontally. If the
2964 printed area exceeds the specified number of pages it will be scaled
2965 down to fit. This guarantees that the printed area will always appear
2966 on the specified number of pages even if the page size or margins
2967 change.
2968 $worksheet1->fit_to_pages(1, 1); # Fit to 1x1 pages
2970 $worksheet2->fit_to_pages(2, 1); # Fit to 2x1 pages
2971 $worksheet3->fit_to_pages(1, 2); # Fit to 1x2 pages
2972 The print area can be defined using the "print_area()" method as
2974 described above.
2975 A common requirement is to fit the printed output to n pages wide but
2977 have the height be as long as necessary. To achieve this set the
2978 $height to zero or leave it blank:
2979 $worksheet1->fit_to_pages(1, 0); # 1 page wide and as long as necessary
2981 $worksheet2->fit_to_pages(1); # The same
2982 Note that although it is valid to use both "fit_to_pages()" and
2984 "set_print_scale()" on the same worksheet only one of these options can
2985 be active at a time. The last method call made will set the active
2986 option.
2987 Note that "fit_to_pages()" will override any manual page breaks that
2989 are defined in the worksheet.
2990 set_start_page($start_page)
2992 The "set_start_page()" method is used to set the number of the starting
2993 page when the worksheet is printed out. The default value is 1.
2994 $worksheet->set_start_page(2);
2996 set_print_scale($scale)
2998 Set the scale factor of the printed page. Scale factors in the range
2999 "10 <= $scale <= 400" are valid:
3000 $worksheet1->set_print_scale(50);
3002 $worksheet2->set_print_scale(75);
3003 $worksheet3->set_print_scale(300);
3004 $worksheet4->set_print_scale(400);
3005 The default scale factor is 100. Note, "set_print_scale()" does not
3007 affect the scale of the visible page in Excel. For that you should use
3008 "set_zoom()".
3009 Note also that although it is valid to use both "fit_to_pages()" and
3011 "set_print_scale()" on the same worksheet only one of these options can
3012 be active at a time. The last method call made will set the active
3013 option.
3014 set_h_pagebreaks(@breaks)
3016 Add horizontal page breaks to a worksheet. A page break causes all the
3017 data that follows it to be printed on the next page. Horizontal page
3018 breaks act between rows. To create a page break between rows 20 and 21
3019 you must specify the break at row 21. However in zero index notation
3020 this is actually row 20. So you can pretend for a small while that you
3021 are using 1 index notation:
3022 $worksheet1->set_h_pagebreaks(20); # Break between row 20 and 21
3024 The "set_h_pagebreaks()" method will accept a list of page breaks and
3026 you can call it more than once:
3027 $worksheet2->set_h_pagebreaks( 20, 40, 60, 80, 100); # Add breaks
3029 $worksheet2->set_h_pagebreaks(120, 140, 160, 180, 200); # Add some more
3030 Note: If you specify the "fit to page" option via the "fit_to_pages()"
3032 method it will override all manual page breaks.
3033 There is a silent limitation of about 1000 horizontal page breaks per
3035 worksheet in line with an Excel internal limitation.
3036 set_v_pagebreaks(@breaks)
3038 Add vertical page breaks to a worksheet. A page break causes all the
3039 data that follows it to be printed on the next page. Vertical page
3040 breaks act between columns. To create a page break between columns 20
3041 and 21 you must specify the break at column 21. However in zero index
3042 notation this is actually column 20. So you can pretend for a small
3043 while that you are using 1 index notation:
3044 $worksheet1->set_v_pagebreaks(20); # Break between column 20 and 21
3046 The "set_v_pagebreaks()" method will accept a list of page breaks and
3048 you can call it more than once:
3049 $worksheet2->set_v_pagebreaks( 20, 40, 60, 80, 100); # Add breaks
3051 $worksheet2->set_v_pagebreaks(120, 140, 160, 180, 200); # Add some more
3052 Note: If you specify the "fit to page" option via the "fit_to_pages()"
3054 method it will override all manual page breaks.
3055
3057 This section describes the methods and properties that are available
3058 for formatting cells in Excel. The properties of a cell that can be
3059 formatted include: fonts, colours, patterns, borders, alignment and
3060 number formatting.
3061 Creating and using a Format object
3063 Cell formatting is defined through a Format object. Format objects are
3064 created by calling the workbook "add_format()" method as follows:
3065 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format(); # Set properties later
3067 my $format2 = $workbook->add_format(%props); # Set at creation
3068 The format object holds all the formatting properties that can be
3070 applied to a cell, a row or a column. The process of setting these
3071 properties is discussed in the next section.
3072 Once a Format object has been constructed and it properties have been
3074 set it can be passed as an argument to the worksheet "write" methods as
3075 follows:
3076 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'One', $format);
3078 $worksheet->write_string(1, 0, 'Two', $format);
3079 $worksheet->write_number(2, 0, 3, $format);
3080 $worksheet->write_blank(3, 0, $format);
3081 Formats can also be passed to the worksheet "set_row()" and
3083 "set_column()" methods to define the default property for a row or
3084 column.
3085 $worksheet->set_row(0, 15, $format);
3087 $worksheet->set_column(0, 0, 15, $format);
3088 Format methods and Format properties
3090 The following table shows the Excel format categories, the formatting
3091 properties that can be applied and the equivalent object method:
3092 Category Description Property Method Name
3094 -------- ----------- -------- -----------
3095 Font Font type font set_font()
3096 Font size size set_size()
3097 Font color color set_color()
3098 Bold bold set_bold()
3099 Italic italic set_italic()
3100 Underline underline set_underline()
3101 Strikeout font_strikeout set_font_strikeout()
3102 Super/Subscript font_script set_font_script()
3103 Outline font_outline set_font_outline()
3104 Shadow font_shadow set_font_shadow()
3105 Number Numeric format num_format set_num_format()
3107 Protection Lock cells locked set_locked()
3109 Hide formulas hidden set_hidden()
3110 Alignment Horizontal align align set_align()
3112 Vertical align valign set_align()
3113 Rotation rotation set_rotation()
3114 Text wrap text_wrap set_text_wrap()
3115 Justify last text_justlast set_text_justlast()
3116 Center across center_across set_center_across()
3117 Indentation indent set_indent()
3118 Shrink to fit shrink set_shrink()
3119 Pattern Cell pattern pattern set_pattern()
3121 Background color bg_color set_bg_color()
3122 Foreground color fg_color set_fg_color()
3123 Border Cell border border set_border()
3125 Bottom border bottom set_bottom()
3126 Top border top set_top()
3127 Left border left set_left()
3128 Right border right set_right()
3129 Border color border_color set_border_color()
3130 Bottom color bottom_color set_bottom_color()
3131 Top color top_color set_top_color()
3132 Left color left_color set_left_color()
3133 Right color right_color set_right_color()
3134 There are two ways of setting Format properties: by using the object
3136 method interface or by setting the property directly. For example, a
3137 typical use of the method interface would be as follows:
3138 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3140 $format->set_bold();
3141 $format->set_color('red');
3142 By comparison the properties can be set directly by passing a hash of
3144 properties to the Format constructor:
3145 my $format = $workbook->add_format(bold => 1, color => 'red');
3147 or after the Format has been constructed by means of the
3149 "set_format_properties()" method as follows:
3150 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3152 $format->set_format_properties(bold => 1, color => 'red');
3153 You can also store the properties in one or more named hashes and pass
3155 them to the required method:
3156 my %font = (
3158 font => 'Arial',
3159 size => 12,
3160 color => 'blue',
3161 bold => 1,
3162 );
3163 my %shading = (
3165 bg_color => 'green',
3166 pattern => 1,
3167 );
3168 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format(%font); # Font only
3171 my $format2 = $workbook->add_format(%font, %shading); # Font and shading
3172 The provision of two ways of setting properties might lead you to
3174 wonder which is the best way. The method mechanism may be better is you
3175 prefer setting properties via method calls (which the author did when
3176 they were code was first written) otherwise passing properties to the
3177 constructor has proved to be a little more flexible and self
3178 documenting in practice. An additional advantage of working with
3179 property hashes is that it allows you to share formatting between
3180 workbook objects as shown in the example above.
3181 The Perl/Tk style of adding properties is also supported:
3183 my %font = (
3185 -font => 'Arial',
3186 -size => 12,
3187 -color => 'blue',
3188 -bold => 1,
3189 );
3190 Working with formats
3192 The default format is Arial 10 with all other properties off.
3193 Each unique format in Spreadsheet::WriteExcel must have a corresponding
3195 Format object. It isn't possible to use a Format with a write() method
3196 and then redefine the Format for use at a later stage. This is because
3197 a Format is applied to a cell not in its current state but in its final
3198 state. Consider the following example:
3199 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3201 $format->set_bold();
3202 $format->set_color('red');
3203 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Cell A1', $format);
3204 $format->set_color('green');
3205 $worksheet->write('B1', 'Cell B1', $format);
3206 Cell A1 is assigned the Format $format which is initially set to the
3208 colour red. However, the colour is subsequently set to green. When
3209 Excel displays Cell A1 it will display the final state of the Format
3210 which in this case will be the colour green.
3211 In general a method call without an argument will turn a property on,
3213 for example:
3214 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format();
3216 $format1->set_bold(); # Turns bold on
3217 $format1->set_bold(1); # Also turns bold on
3218 $format1->set_bold(0); # Turns bold off
3219
3221 The Format object methods are described in more detail in the following
3222 sections. In addition, there is a Perl program called "formats.pl" in
3223 the "examples" directory of the WriteExcel distribution. This program
3224 creates an Excel workbook called "formats.xls" which contains examples
3225 of almost all the format types.
3226 The following Format methods are available:
3228 set_font()
3230 set_size()
3231 set_color()
3232 set_bold()
3233 set_italic()
3234 set_underline()
3235 set_font_strikeout()
3236 set_font_script()
3237 set_font_outline()
3238 set_font_shadow()
3239 set_num_format()
3240 set_locked()
3241 set_hidden()
3242 set_align()
3243 set_rotation()
3244 set_text_wrap()
3245 set_text_justlast()
3246 set_center_across()
3247 set_indent()
3248 set_shrink()
3249 set_pattern()
3250 set_bg_color()
3251 set_fg_color()
3252 set_border()
3253 set_bottom()
3254 set_top()
3255 set_left()
3256 set_right()
3257 set_border_color()
3258 set_bottom_color()
3259 set_top_color()
3260 set_left_color()
3261 set_right_color()
3262 The above methods can also be applied directly as properties. For
3264 example "$format->set_bold()" is equivalent to
3265 "$workbook->add_format(bold => 1)".
3266 set_format_properties(%properties)
3268 The properties of an existing Format object can be also be set by means
3269 of "set_format_properties()":
3270 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3272 $format->set_format_properties(bold => 1, color => 'red');
3273 However, this method is here mainly for legacy reasons. It is
3275 preferable to set the properties in the format constructor:
3276 my $format = $workbook->add_format(bold => 1, color => 'red');
3278 set_font($fontname)
3280 Default state: Font is Arial
3281 Default action: None
3282 Valid args: Any valid font name
3283 Specify the font used:
3285 $format->set_font('Times New Roman');
3287 Excel can only display fonts that are installed on the system that it
3289 is running on. Therefore it is best to use the fonts that come as
3290 standard such as 'Arial', 'Times New Roman' and 'Courier New'. See also
3291 the Fonts worksheet created by formats.pl
3292 set_size()
3294 Default state: Font size is 10
3295 Default action: Set font size to 1
3296 Valid args: Integer values from 1 to as big as your screen.
3297 Set the font size. Excel adjusts the height of a row to accommodate the
3299 largest font size in the row. You can also explicitly specify the
3300 height of a row using the set_row() worksheet method.
3301 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3303 $format->set_size(30);
3304 set_color()
3306 Default state: Excels default color, usually black
3307 Default action: Set the default color
3308 Valid args: Integers from 8..63 or the following strings:
3309 'black'
3310 'blue'
3311 'brown'
3312 'cyan'
3313 'gray'
3314 'green'
3315 'lime'
3316 'magenta'
3317 'navy'
3318 'orange'
3319 'pink'
3320 'purple'
3321 'red'
3322 'silver'
3323 'white'
3324 'yellow'
3325 Set the font colour. The "set_color()" method is used as follows:
3327 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3329 $format->set_color('red');
3330 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'wheelbarrow', $format);
3331 Note: The "set_color()" method is used to set the colour of the font in
3333 a cell. To set the colour of a cell use the "set_bg_color()" and
3334 "set_pattern()" methods.
3335 For additional examples see the 'Named colors' and 'Standard colors'
3337 worksheets created by formats.pl in the examples directory.
3338 See also "COLOURS IN EXCEL".
3340 set_bold()
3342 Default state: bold is off
3343 Default action: Turn bold on
3344 Valid args: 0, 1 [1]
3345 Set the bold property of the font:
3347 $format->set_bold(); # Turn bold on
3349 [1] Actually, values in the range 100..1000 are also valid. 400 is
3351 normal, 700 is bold and 1000 is very bold indeed. It is probably best
3352 to set the value to 1 and use normal bold.
3353 set_italic()
3355 Default state: Italic is off
3356 Default action: Turn italic on
3357 Valid args: 0, 1
3358 Set the italic property of the font:
3360 $format->set_italic(); # Turn italic on
3362 set_underline()
3364 Default state: Underline is off
3365 Default action: Turn on single underline
3366 Valid args: 0 = No underline
3367 1 = Single underline
3368 2 = Double underline
3369 33 = Single accounting underline
3370 34 = Double accounting underline
3371 Set the underline property of the font.
3373 $format->set_underline(); # Single underline
3375 set_font_strikeout()
3377 Default state: Strikeout is off
3378 Default action: Turn strikeout on
3379 Valid args: 0, 1
3380 Set the strikeout property of the font.
3382 set_font_script()
3384 Default state: Super/Subscript is off
3385 Default action: Turn Superscript on
3386 Valid args: 0 = Normal
3387 1 = Superscript
3388 2 = Subscript
3389 Set the superscript/subscript property of the font. This format is
3391 currently not very useful.
3392 set_font_outline()
3394 Default state: Outline is off
3395 Default action: Turn outline on
3396 Valid args: 0, 1
3397 Macintosh only.
3399 set_font_shadow()
3401 Default state: Shadow is off
3402 Default action: Turn shadow on
3403 Valid args: 0, 1
3404 Macintosh only.
3406 set_num_format()
3408 Default state: General format
3409 Default action: Format index 1
3410 Valid args: See the following table
3411 This method is used to define the numerical format of a number in
3413 Excel. It controls whether a number is displayed as an integer, a
3414 floating point number, a date, a currency value or some other user
3415 defined format.
3416 The numerical format of a cell can be specified by using a format
3418 string or an index to one of Excel's built-in formats:
3419 my $format1 = $workbook->add_format();
3421 my $format2 = $workbook->add_format();
3422 $format1->set_num_format('d mmm yyyy'); # Format string
3423 $format2->set_num_format(0x0f); # Format index
3424 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 36892.521, $format1); # 1 Jan 2001
3426 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 36892.521, $format2); # 1-Jan-01
3427 Using format strings you can define very sophisticated formatting of
3429 numbers.
3430 $format01->set_num_format('0.000');
3432 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 3.1415926, $format01); # 3.142
3433 $format02->set_num_format('#,##0');
3435 $worksheet->write(1, 0, 1234.56, $format02); # 1,235
3436 $format03->set_num_format('#,##0.00');
3438 $worksheet->write(2, 0, 1234.56, $format03); # 1,234.56
3439 $format04->set_num_format('$0.00');
3441 $worksheet->write(3, 0, 49.99, $format04); # $49.99
3442 # Note you can use other currency symbols such as the pound or yen as well.
3444 # Other currencies may require the use of Unicode.
3445 $format07->set_num_format('mm/dd/yy');
3447 $worksheet->write(6, 0, 36892.521, $format07); # 01/01/01
3448 $format08->set_num_format('mmm d yyyy');
3450 $worksheet->write(7, 0, 36892.521, $format08); # Jan 1 2001
3451 $format09->set_num_format('d mmmm yyyy');
3453 $worksheet->write(8, 0, 36892.521, $format09); # 1 January 2001
3454 $format10->set_num_format('dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm AM/PM');
3456 $worksheet->write(9, 0, 36892.521, $format10); # 01/01/2001 12:30 AM
3457 $format11->set_num_format('0 "dollar and" .00 "cents"');
3459 $worksheet->write(10, 0, 1.87, $format11); # 1 dollar and .87 cents
3460 # Conditional formatting
3462 $format12->set_num_format('[Green]General;[Red]-General;General');
3463 $worksheet->write(11, 0, 123, $format12); # > 0 Green
3464 $worksheet->write(12, 0, -45, $format12); # < 0 Red
3465 $worksheet->write(13, 0, 0, $format12); # = 0 Default colour
3466 # Zip code
3468 $format13->set_num_format('00000');
3469 $worksheet->write(14, 0, '01209', $format13);
3470 The number system used for dates is described in "DATES AND TIME IN
3472 EXCEL".
3473 The colour format should have one of the following values:
3475 [Black] [Blue] [Cyan] [Green] [Magenta] [Red] [White] [Yellow]
3477 Alternatively you can specify the colour based on a colour index as
3479 follows: "[Color n]", where n is a standard Excel colour index - 7. See
3480 the 'Standard colors' worksheet created by formats.pl.
3481 For more information refer to the documentation on formatting in the
3483 "docs" directory of the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel distro, the Excel on-
3484 line help or
3485 http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/HP051995001033.aspx
3486 <http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/HP051995001033.aspx>.
3487 You should ensure that the format string is valid in Excel prior to
3489 using it in WriteExcel.
3490 Excel's built-in formats are shown in the following table:
3492 Index Index Format String
3494 0 0x00 General
3495 1 0x01 0
3496 2 0x02 0.00
3497 3 0x03 #,##0
3498 4 0x04 #,##0.00
3499 5 0x05 ($#,##0_);($#,##0)
3500 6 0x06 ($#,##0_);[Red]($#,##0)
3501 7 0x07 ($#,##0.00_);($#,##0.00)
3502 8 0x08 ($#,##0.00_);[Red]($#,##0.00)
3503 9 0x09 0%
3504 10 0x0a 0.00%
3505 11 0x0b 0.00E+00
3506 12 0x0c # ?/?
3507 13 0x0d # ??/??
3508 14 0x0e m/d/yy
3509 15 0x0f d-mmm-yy
3510 16 0x10 d-mmm
3511 17 0x11 mmm-yy
3512 18 0x12 h:mm AM/PM
3513 19 0x13 h:mm:ss AM/PM
3514 20 0x14 h:mm
3515 21 0x15 h:mm:ss
3516 22 0x16 m/d/yy h:mm
3517 .. .... ...........
3518 37 0x25 (#,##0_);(#,##0)
3519 38 0x26 (#,##0_);[Red](#,##0)
3520 39 0x27 (#,##0.00_);(#,##0.00)
3521 40 0x28 (#,##0.00_);[Red](#,##0.00)
3522 41 0x29 _(* #,##0_);_(* (#,##0);_(* "-"_);_(@_)
3523 42 0x2a _($* #,##0_);_($* (#,##0);_($* "-"_);_(@_)
3524 43 0x2b _(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* "-"??_);_(@_)
3525 44 0x2c _($* #,##0.00_);_($* (#,##0.00);_($* "-"??_);_(@_)
3526 45 0x2d mm:ss
3527 46 0x2e [h]:mm:ss
3528 47 0x2f mm:ss.0
3529 48 0x30 ##0.0E+0
3530 49 0x31 @
3531 For examples of these formatting codes see the 'Numerical formats'
3533 worksheet created by formats.pl. See also the number_formats1.html and
3534 the number_formats2.html documents in the "docs" directory of the
3535 distro.
3536 Note 1. Numeric formats 23 to 36 are not documented by Microsoft and
3538 may differ in international versions.
3539 Note 2. In Excel 5 the dollar sign appears as a dollar sign. In Excel
3541 97-2000 it appears as the defined local currency symbol.
3542 Note 3. The red negative numeric formats display slightly differently
3544 in Excel 5 and Excel 97-2000.
3545 set_locked()
3547 Default state: Cell locking is on
3548 Default action: Turn locking on
3549 Valid args: 0, 1
3550 This property can be used to prevent modification of a cells contents.
3552 Following Excel's convention, cell locking is turned on by default.
3553 However, it only has an effect if the worksheet has been protected, see
3554 the worksheet "protect()" method.
3555 my $locked = $workbook->add_format();
3557 $locked->set_locked(1); # A non-op
3558 my $unlocked = $workbook->add_format();
3560 $locked->set_locked(0);
3561 # Enable worksheet protection
3563 $worksheet->protect();
3564 # This cell cannot be edited.
3566 $worksheet->write('A1', '=1+2', $locked);
3567 # This cell can be edited.
3569 $worksheet->write('A2', '=1+2', $unlocked);
3570 Note: This offers weak protection even with a password, see the note in
3572 relation to the "protect()" method.
3573 set_hidden()
3575 Default state: Formula hiding is off
3576 Default action: Turn hiding on
3577 Valid args: 0, 1
3578 This property is used to hide a formula while still displaying its
3580 result. This is generally used to hide complex calculations from end
3581 users who are only interested in the result. It only has an effect if
3582 the worksheet has been protected, see the worksheet "protect()" method.
3583 my $hidden = $workbook->add_format();
3585 $hidden->set_hidden();
3586 # Enable worksheet protection
3588 $worksheet->protect();
3589 # The formula in this cell isn't visible
3591 $worksheet->write('A1', '=1+2', $hidden);
3592 Note: This offers weak protection even with a password, see the note in
3594 relation to the "protect()" method.
3595 set_align()
3597 Default state: Alignment is off
3598 Default action: Left alignment
3599 Valid args: 'left' Horizontal
3600 'center'
3601 'right'
3602 'fill'
3603 'justify'
3604 'center_across'
3605 'top' Vertical
3607 'vcenter'
3608 'bottom'
3609 'vjustify'
3610 This method is used to set the horizontal and vertical text alignment
3612 within a cell. Vertical and horizontal alignments can be combined. The
3613 method is used as follows:
3614 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3616 $format->set_align('center');
3617 $format->set_align('vcenter');
3618 $worksheet->set_row(0, 30);
3619 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'X', $format);
3620 Text can be aligned across two or more adjacent cells using the
3622 "center_across" property. However, for genuine merged cells it is
3623 better to use the "merge_range()" worksheet method.
3624 The "vjustify" (vertical justify) option can be used to provide
3626 automatic text wrapping in a cell. The height of the cell will be
3627 adjusted to accommodate the wrapped text. To specify where the text
3628 wraps use the "set_text_wrap()" method.
3629 For further examples see the 'Alignment' worksheet created by
3631 formats.pl.
3632 set_center_across()
3634 Default state: Center across selection is off
3635 Default action: Turn center across on
3636 Valid args: 1
3637 Text can be aligned across two or more adjacent cells using the
3639 "set_center_across()" method. This is an alias for the
3640 "set_align('center_across')" method call.
3641 Only one cell should contain the text, the other cells should be blank:
3643 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3645 $format->set_center_across();
3646 $worksheet->write(1, 1, 'Center across selection', $format);
3648 $worksheet->write_blank(1, 2, $format);
3649 See also the "merge1.pl" to "merge6.pl" programs in the "examples"
3651 directory and the "merge_range()" method.
3652 set_text_wrap()
3654 Default state: Text wrap is off
3655 Default action: Turn text wrap on
3656 Valid args: 0, 1
3657 Here is an example using the text wrap property, the escape character
3659 "\n" is used to indicate the end of line:
3660 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3662 $format->set_text_wrap();
3663 $worksheet->write(0, 0, "It's\na bum\nwrap", $format);
3664 Excel will adjust the height of the row to accommodate the wrapped
3666 text. A similar effect can be obtained without newlines using the
3667 "set_align('vjustify')" method. See the "textwrap.pl" program in the
3668 "examples" directory.
3669 set_rotation()
3671 Default state: Text rotation is off
3672 Default action: None
3673 Valid args: Integers in the range -90 to 90 and 270
3674 Set the rotation of the text in a cell. The rotation can be any angle
3676 in the range -90 to 90 degrees.
3677 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3679 $format->set_rotation(30);
3680 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'This text is rotated', $format);
3681 The angle 270 is also supported. This indicates text where the letters
3683 run from top to bottom.
3684 set_indent()
3686 Default state: Text indentation is off
3687 Default action: Indent text 1 level
3688 Valid args: Positive integers
3689 This method can be used to indent text. The argument, which should be
3691 an integer, is taken as the level of indentation:
3692 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3694 $format->set_indent(2);
3695 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'This text is indented', $format);
3696 Indentation is a horizontal alignment property. It will override any
3698 other horizontal properties but it can be used in conjunction with
3699 vertical properties.
3700 set_shrink()
3702 Default state: Text shrinking is off
3703 Default action: Turn "shrink to fit" on
3704 Valid args: 1
3705 This method can be used to shrink text so that it fits in a cell.
3707 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3709 $format->set_shrink();
3710 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Honey, I shrunk the text!', $format);
3711 set_text_justlast()
3713 Default state: Justify last is off
3714 Default action: Turn justify last on
3715 Valid args: 0, 1
3716 Only applies to Far Eastern versions of Excel.
3718 set_pattern()
3720 Default state: Pattern is off
3721 Default action: Solid fill is on
3722 Valid args: 0 .. 18
3723 Set the background pattern of a cell.
3725 Examples of the available patterns are shown in the 'Patterns'
3727 worksheet created by formats.pl. However, it is unlikely that you will
3728 ever need anything other than Pattern 1 which is a solid fill of the
3729 background color.
3730 set_bg_color()
3732 Default state: Color is off
3733 Default action: Solid fill.
3734 Valid args: See set_color()
3735 The "set_bg_color()" method can be used to set the background colour of
3737 a pattern. Patterns are defined via the "set_pattern()" method. If a
3738 pattern hasn't been defined then a solid fill pattern is used as the
3739 default.
3740 Here is an example of how to set up a solid fill in a cell:
3742 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
3744 $format->set_pattern(); # This is optional when using a solid fill
3746 $format->set_bg_color('green');
3748 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Ray', $format);
3749 For further examples see the 'Patterns' worksheet created by
3751 formats.pl.
3752 set_fg_color()
3754 Default state: Color is off
3755 Default action: Solid fill.
3756 Valid args: See set_color()
3757 The "set_fg_color()" method can be used to set the foreground colour of
3759 a pattern.
3760 For further examples see the 'Patterns' worksheet created by
3762 formats.pl.
3763 set_border()
3765 Also applies to: set_bottom()
3766 set_top()
3767 set_left()
3768 set_right()
3769 Default state: Border is off
3771 Default action: Set border type 1
3772 Valid args: 0-13, See below.
3773 A cell border is comprised of a border on the bottom, top, left and
3775 right. These can be set to the same value using "set_border()" or
3776 individually using the relevant method calls shown above.
3777 The following shows the border styles sorted by Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
3779 index number:
3780 Index Name Weight Style
3782 ===== ============= ====== ===========
3783 0 None 0
3784 1 Continuous 1 -----------
3785 2 Continuous 2 -----------
3786 3 Dash 1 - - - - - -
3787 4 Dot 1 . . . . . .
3788 5 Continuous 3 -----------
3789 6 Double 3 ===========
3790 7 Continuous 0 -----------
3791 8 Dash 2 - - - - - -
3792 9 Dash Dot 1 - . - . - .
3793 10 Dash Dot 2 - . - . - .
3794 11 Dash Dot Dot 1 - . . - . .
3795 12 Dash Dot Dot 2 - . . - . .
3796 13 SlantDash Dot 2 / - . / - .
3797 The following shows the borders sorted by style:
3799 Name Weight Style Index
3801 ============= ====== =========== =====
3802 Continuous 0 ----------- 7
3803 Continuous 1 ----------- 1
3804 Continuous 2 ----------- 2
3805 Continuous 3 ----------- 5
3806 Dash 1 - - - - - - 3
3807 Dash 2 - - - - - - 8
3808 Dash Dot 1 - . - . - . 9
3809 Dash Dot 2 - . - . - . 10
3810 Dash Dot Dot 1 - . . - . . 11
3811 Dash Dot Dot 2 - . . - . . 12
3812 Dot 1 . . . . . . 4
3813 Double 3 =========== 6
3814 None 0 0
3815 SlantDash Dot 2 / - . / - . 13
3816 The following shows the borders in the order shown in the Excel Dialog.
3818 Index Style Index Style
3820 ===== ===== ===== =====
3821 0 None 12 - . . - . .
3822 7 ----------- 13 / - . / - .
3823 4 . . . . . . 10 - . - . - .
3824 11 - . . - . . 8 - - - - - -
3825 9 - . - . - . 2 -----------
3826 3 - - - - - - 5 -----------
3827 1 ----------- 6 ===========
3828 Examples of the available border styles are shown in the 'Borders'
3830 worksheet created by formats.pl.
3831 set_border_color()
3833 Also applies to: set_bottom_color()
3834 set_top_color()
3835 set_left_color()
3836 set_right_color()
3837 Default state: Color is off
3839 Default action: Undefined
3840 Valid args: See set_color()
3841 Set the colour of the cell borders. A cell border is comprised of a
3843 border on the bottom, top, left and right. These can be set to the same
3844 colour using "set_border_color()" or individually using the relevant
3845 method calls shown above. Examples of the border styles and colours are
3846 shown in the 'Borders' worksheet created by formats.pl.
3847 copy($format)
3849 This method is used to copy all of the properties from one Format
3850 object to another:
3851 my $lorry1 = $workbook->add_format();
3853 $lorry1->set_bold();
3854 $lorry1->set_italic();
3855 $lorry1->set_color('red'); # lorry1 is bold, italic and red
3856 my $lorry2 = $workbook->add_format();
3858 $lorry2->copy($lorry1);
3859 $lorry2->set_color('yellow'); # lorry2 is bold, italic and yellow
3860 The "copy()" method is only useful if you are using the method
3862 interface to Format properties. It generally isn't required if you are
3863 setting Format properties directly using hashes.
3864 Note: this is not a copy constructor, both objects must exist prior to
3866 copying.
3867
3869 The following is a brief introduction to handling Unicode in
3870 "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel".
3871 For a more general introduction to Unicode handling in Perl see
3873 perlunitut and perluniintro.
3874 When using Spreadsheet::WriteExcel the best and easiest way to write
3876 unicode strings to an Excel file is to use "UTF-8" encoded strings and
3877 perl 5.8 (or later). Spreadsheet::WriteExcel also allows you to write
3878 unicode strings using older perls but it generally requires more work,
3879 as explained below.
3880 Internally, Excel encodes unicode data as "UTF-16LE" (where LE means
3882 little-endian). If you are using perl 5.8+ then Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
3883 will convert "UTF-8" strings to "UTF-16LE" when required. No further
3884 intervention is required from the programmer, for example:
3885 # perl 5.8+ example:
3887 my $smiley = "\x{263A}";
3888 $worksheet->write('A1', 'Hello world'); # ASCII
3890 $worksheet->write('A2', $smiley); # UTF-8
3891 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel also lets you write unicode data as "UTF-16".
3893 Since the majority of CPAN modules default to "UTF-16BE" (big-endian)
3894 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel also uses "UTF-16BE" and converts it internally
3895 to "UTF-16LE":
3896 # perl 5.005 example:
3898 my $smiley = pack 'n', 0x263A;
3899 $worksheet->write ('A3', 'Hello world'); # ASCII
3901 $worksheet->write_utf16be_string('A4', $smiley); # UTF-16
3902 Although the above examples look similar there is an important
3904 difference. With "uft8" and perl 5.8+ Spreadsheet::WriteExcel treats
3905 "UTF-8" strings in exactly the same way as any other string. However,
3906 with "UTF16" data we need to distinguish it from other strings either
3907 by calling a separate function or by passing an additional flag to
3908 indicate the data type.
3909 If you are dealing with non-ASCII characters that aren't in "UTF-8"
3911 then perl 5.8+ provides useful tools in the guise of the "Encode"
3912 module to help you to convert to the required format. For example:
3913 use Encode 'decode';
3915 my $string = 'some string with koi8-r characters';
3917 $string = decode('koi8-r', $string); # koi8-r to utf8
3918 Alternatively you can read data from an encoded file and convert it to
3920 "UTF-8" as you read it in:
3921 my $file = 'unicode_koi8r.txt';
3923 open FH, '<:encoding(koi8-r)', $file or die "Couldn't open $file: $!\n";
3924 my $row = 0;
3926 while (<FH>) {
3927 # Data read in is now in utf8 format.
3928 chomp;
3929 $worksheet->write($row++, 0, $_);
3930 }
3931 These methodologies are explained in more detail in perlunitut,
3933 perluniintro and perlunicode.
3934 See also the "unicode_*.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
3936 distro.
3937
3939 Excel provides a colour palette of 56 colours. In
3940 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel these colours are accessed via their palette
3941 index in the range 8..63. This index is used to set the colour of
3942 fonts, cell patterns and cell borders. For example:
3943 my $format = $workbook->add_format(
3945 color => 12, # index for blue
3946 font => 'Arial',
3947 size => 12,
3948 bold => 1,
3949 );
3950 The most commonly used colours can also be accessed by name. The name
3952 acts as a simple alias for the colour index:
3953 black => 8
3955 blue => 12
3956 brown => 16
3957 cyan => 15
3958 gray => 23
3959 green => 17
3960 lime => 11
3961 magenta => 14
3962 navy => 18
3963 orange => 53
3964 pink => 33
3965 purple => 20
3966 red => 10
3967 silver => 22
3968 white => 9
3969 yellow => 13
3970 For example:
3972 my $font = $workbook->add_format(color => 'red');
3974 Users of VBA in Excel should note that the equivalent colour indices
3976 are in the range 1..56 instead of 8..63.
3977 If the default palette does not provide a required colour you can
3979 override one of the built-in values. This is achieved by using the
3980 "set_custom_color()" workbook method to adjust the RGB (red green blue)
3981 components of the colour:
3982 my $ferrari = $workbook->set_custom_color(40, 216, 12, 12);
3984 my $format = $workbook->add_format(
3986 bg_color => $ferrari,
3987 pattern => 1,
3988 border => 1
3989 );
3990 $worksheet->write_blank('A1', $format);
3992 The default Excel 97 colour palette is shown in "palette.html" in the
3994 "docs" directory of the distro. You can generate an Excel version of
3995 the palette using "colors.pl" in the "examples" directory.
3996 A comparison of the colour components in the Excel 5 and Excel 97+
3998 colour palettes is shown in "rgb5-97.txt" in the "docs" directory.
3999 You may also find the following links helpful:
4001 A detailed look at Excel's colour palette:
4003 <http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/colors.htm>
4004 A decimal RGB chart: <http://www.hypersolutions.org/pages/rgbdec.html>.
4006 A hex RGB chart: : <http://www.hypersolutions.org/pages/rgbhex.html>.
4008
4010 There are two important things to understand about dates and times in
4011 Excel:
4012 1 A date/time in Excel is a real number plus an Excel number format.
4014 2 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel doesn't automatically convert date/time
4015 strings in "write()" to an Excel date/time.
4016 These two points are explained in more detail below along with some
4018 suggestions on how to convert times and dates to the required format.
4019 An Excel date/time is a number plus a format
4021 If you write a date string with "write()" then all you will get is a
4022 string:
4023 $worksheet->write('A1', '02/03/04'); # !! Writes a string not a date. !!
4025 Dates and times in Excel are represented by real numbers, for example
4027 "Jan 1 2001 12:30 AM" is represented by the number 36892.521.
4028 The integer part of the number stores the number of days since the
4030 epoch and the fractional part stores the percentage of the day.
4031 A date or time in Excel is just like any other number. To have the
4033 number display as a date you must apply an Excel number format to it.
4034 Here are some examples.
4035 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
4037 use strict;
4039 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
4040 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('date_examples.xls');
4042 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
4043 $worksheet->set_column('A:A', 30); # For extra visibility.
4045 my $number = 39506.5;
4047 $worksheet->write('A1', $number); # 39506.5
4049 my $format2 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'dd/mm/yy');
4051 $worksheet->write('A2', $number , $format2); # 28/02/08
4052 my $format3 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'mm/dd/yy');
4054 $worksheet->write('A3', $number , $format3); # 02/28/08
4055 my $format4 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'd-m-yyyy');
4057 $worksheet->write('A4', $number , $format4); # 28-2-2008
4058 my $format5 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'dd/mm/yy hh:mm');
4060 $worksheet->write('A5', $number , $format5); # 28/02/08 12:00
4061 my $format6 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'd mmm yyyy');
4063 $worksheet->write('A6', $number , $format6); # 28 Feb 2008
4064 my $format7 = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'mmm d yyyy hh:mm AM/PM');
4066 $worksheet->write('A7', $number , $format7); # Feb 28 2008 12:00 PM
4067 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel doesn't automatically convert date/time strings
4069 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel doesn't automatically convert input date
4070 strings into Excel's formatted date numbers due to the large number of
4071 possible date formats and also due to the possibility of
4072 misinterpretation.
4073 For example, does "02/03/04" mean March 2 2004, February 3 2004 or even
4075 March 4 2002.
4076 Therefore, in order to handle dates you will have to convert them to
4078 numbers and apply an Excel format. Some methods for converting dates
4079 are listed in the next section.
4080 The most direct way is to convert your dates to the ISO8601
4082 "yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss" date format and use the "write_date_time()"
4083 worksheet method:
4084 $worksheet->write_date_time('A2', '2001-01-01T12:20', $format);
4086 See the "write_date_time()" section of the documentation for more
4088 details.
4089 A general methodology for handling date strings with
4091 "write_date_time()" is:
4092 1. Identify incoming date/time strings with a regex.
4094 2. Extract the component parts of the date/time using the same regex.
4095 3. Convert the date/time to the ISO8601 format.
4096 4. Write the date/time using write_date_time() and a number format.
4097 Here is an example:
4099 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
4101 use strict;
4103 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
4104 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('example.xls');
4106 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
4107 # Set the default format for dates.
4109 my $date_format = $workbook->add_format(num_format => 'mmm d yyyy');
4110 # Increase column width to improve visibility of data.
4112 $worksheet->set_column('A:C', 20);
4113 # Simulate reading from a data source.
4115 my $row = 0;
4116 while (<DATA>) {
4118 chomp;
4119 my $col = 0;
4121 my @data = split ' ';
4122 for my $item (@data) {
4124 # Match dates in the following formats: d/m/yy, d/m/yyyy
4126 if ($item =~ qr[^(\d{1,2})/(\d{1,2})/(\d{4})$]) {
4127 # Change to the date format required by write_date_time().
4129 my $date = sprintf "%4d-%02d-%02dT", $3, $2, $1;
4130 $worksheet->write_date_time($row, $col++, $date, $date_format);
4132 }
4133 else {
4134 # Just plain data
4135 $worksheet->write($row, $col++, $item);
4136 }
4137 }
4138 $row++;
4139 }
4140 __DATA__
4142 Item Cost Date
4143 Book 10 1/9/2007
4144 Beer 4 12/9/2007
4145 Bed 500 5/10/2007
4146 For a slightly more advanced solution you can modify the "write()"
4148 method to handle date formats of your choice via the
4149 "add_write_handler()" method. See the "add_write_handler()" section of
4150 the docs and the write_handler3.pl and write_handler4.pl programs in
4151 the examples directory of the distro.
4152 Converting dates and times to an Excel date or time
4154 The "write_date_time()" method above is just one way of handling dates
4155 and times.
4156 The Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility module which is included in the
4158 distro has date/time handling functions:
4159 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility;
4161 $date = xl_date_list(2002, 1, 1); # 37257
4163 $date = xl_parse_date("11 July 1997"); # 35622
4164 $time = xl_parse_time('3:21:36 PM'); # 0.64
4165 $date = xl_decode_date_EU("13 May 2002"); # 37389
4166 Note: some of these functions require additional CPAN modules.
4168 For date conversions using the CPAN "DateTime" framework see
4170 DateTime::Format::Excel
4171 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=DateTime-Format-Excel
4172 <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=DateTime-Format-Excel>.
4173
4175 Excel allows you to group rows or columns so that they can be hidden or
4176 displayed with a single mouse click. This feature is referred to as
4177 outlines.
4178 Outlines can reduce complex data down to a few salient sub-totals or
4180 summaries.
4181 This feature is best viewed in Excel but the following is an ASCII
4183 representation of what a worksheet with three outlines might look like.
4184 Rows 3-4 and rows 7-8 are grouped at level 2. Rows 2-9 are grouped at
4185 level 1. The lines at the left hand side are called outline level bars.
4186 ------------------------------------------
4188 1 2 3 | | A | B | C | D | ...
4189 ------------------------------------------
4190 _ | 1 | A | | | | ...
4191 | _ | 2 | B | | | | ...
4192 | | | 3 | (C) | | | | ...
4193 | | | 4 | (D) | | | | ...
4194 | - | 5 | E | | | | ...
4195 | _ | 6 | F | | | | ...
4196 | | | 7 | (G) | | | | ...
4197 | | | 8 | (H) | | | | ...
4198 | - | 9 | I | | | | ...
4199 - | . | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
4200 Clicking the minus sign on each of the level 2 outlines will collapse
4202 and hide the data as shown in the next figure. The minus sign changes
4203 to a plus sign to indicate that the data in the outline is hidden.
4204 ------------------------------------------
4206 1 2 3 | | A | B | C | D | ...
4207 ------------------------------------------
4208 _ | 1 | A | | | | ...
4209 | | 2 | B | | | | ...
4210 | + | 5 | E | | | | ...
4211 | | 6 | F | | | | ...
4212 | + | 9 | I | | | | ...
4213 - | . | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
4214 Clicking on the minus sign on the level 1 outline will collapse the
4216 remaining rows as follows:
4217 ------------------------------------------
4219 1 2 3 | | A | B | C | D | ...
4220 ------------------------------------------
4221 | 1 | A | | | | ...
4222 + | . | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...
4223 Grouping in "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel" is achieved by setting the
4225 outline level via the "set_row()" and "set_column()" worksheet methods:
4226 set_row($row, $height, $format, $hidden, $level, $collapsed)
4228 set_column($first_col, $last_col, $width, $format, $hidden, $level, $collapsed)
4229 The following example sets an outline level of 1 for rows 1 and 2
4231 (zero-indexed) and columns B to G. The parameters $height and $XF are
4232 assigned default values since they are undefined:
4233 $worksheet->set_row(1, undef, undef, 0, 1);
4235 $worksheet->set_row(2, undef, undef, 0, 1);
4236 $worksheet->set_column('B:G', undef, undef, 0, 1);
4237 Excel allows up to 7 outline levels. Therefore the $level parameter
4239 should be in the range "0 <= $level <= 7".
4240 Rows and columns can be collapsed by setting the $hidden flag for the
4242 hidden rows/columns and setting the $collapsed flag for the row/column
4243 that has the collapsed "+" symbol:
4244 $worksheet->set_row(1, undef, undef, 1, 1);
4246 $worksheet->set_row(2, undef, undef, 1, 1);
4247 $worksheet->set_row(3, undef, undef, 0, 0, 1); # Collapsed flag.
4248 $worksheet->set_column('B:G', undef, undef, 1, 1);
4250 $worksheet->set_column('H:H', undef, undef, 0, 0, 1); # Collapsed flag.
4251 Note: Setting the $collapsed flag is particularly important for
4253 compatibility with OpenOffice.org and Gnumeric.
4254 For a more complete example see the "outline.pl" and
4256 "outline_collapsed.pl" programs in the examples directory of the
4257 distro.
4258 Some additional outline properties can be set via the
4260 "outline_settings()" worksheet method, see above.
4261
4263 Data validation is a feature of Excel which allows you to restrict the
4264 data that a users enters in a cell and to display help and warning
4265 messages. It also allows you to restrict input to values in a drop down
4266 list.
4267 A typical use case might be to restrict data in a cell to integer
4269 values in a certain range, to provide a help message to indicate the
4270 required value and to issue a warning if the input data doesn't meet
4271 the stated criteria. In Spreadsheet::WriteExcel we could do that as
4272 follows:
4273 $worksheet->data_validation('B3',
4275 {
4276 validate => 'integer',
4277 criteria => 'between',
4278 minimum => 1,
4279 maximum => 100,
4280 input_title => 'Input an integer:',
4281 input_message => 'Between 1 and 100',
4282 error_message => 'Sorry, try again.',
4283 });
4284 The above example would look like this in Excel:
4286 <http://homepage.eircom.net/~jmcnamara/perl/data_validation.jpg>.
4287 For more information on data validation see the following Microsoft
4289 support article "Description and examples of data validation in Excel":
4290 <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211485>.
4291 The following sections describe how to use the "data_validation()"
4293 method and its various options.
4294 data_validation($row, $col, { parameter => 'value', ... })
4296 The "data_validation()" method is used to construct an Excel data
4297 validation.
4298 It can be applied to a single cell or a range of cells. You can pass 3
4300 parameters such as "($row, $col, {...})" or 5 parameters such as
4301 "($first_row, $first_col, $last_row, $last_col, {...})". You can also
4302 use "A1" style notation. For example:
4303 $worksheet->data_validation(0, 0, {...});
4305 $worksheet->data_validation(0, 0, 4, 1, {...});
4306 # Which are the same as:
4308 $worksheet->data_validation('A1', {...});
4310 $worksheet->data_validation('A1:B5', {...});
4311 See also the note about "Cell notation" for more information.
4313 The last parameter in "data_validation()" must be a hash ref containing
4315 the parameters that describe the type and style of the data validation.
4316 The allowable parameters are:
4317 validate
4319 criteria
4320 value | minimum | source
4321 maximum
4322 ignore_blank
4323 dropdown
4324 input_title
4326 input_message
4327 show_input
4328 error_title
4330 error_message
4331 error_type
4332 show_error
4333 These parameters are explained in the following sections. Most of the
4335 parameters are optional, however, you will generally require the three
4336 main options "validate", "criteria" and "value".
4337 $worksheet->data_validation('B3',
4339 {
4340 validate => 'integer',
4341 criteria => '>',
4342 value => 100,
4343 });
4344 The "data_validation" method returns:
4346 0 for success.
4348 -1 for insufficient number of arguments.
4349 -2 for row or column out of bounds.
4350 -3 for incorrect parameter or value.
4351 validate
4353 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4354 The "validate" parameter is used to set the type of data that you wish
4356 to validate. It is always required and it has no default value.
4357 Allowable values are:
4358 any
4360 integer
4361 decimal
4362 list
4363 date
4364 time
4365 length
4366 custom
4367 · any is used to specify that the type of data is unrestricted. This
4369 is the same as not applying a data validation. It is only provided
4370 for completeness and isn't used very often in the context of
4371 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.
4372 · integer restricts the cell to integer values. Excel refers to this
4374 as 'whole number'.
4375 validate => 'integer',
4377 criteria => '>',
4378 value => 100,
4379 · decimal restricts the cell to decimal values.
4381 validate => 'decimal',
4383 criteria => '>',
4384 value => 38.6,
4385 · list restricts the cell to a set of user specified values. These
4387 can be passed in an array ref or as a cell range (named ranges
4388 aren't currently supported):
4389 validate => 'list',
4391 value => ['open', 'high', 'close'],
4392 # Or like this:
4393 value => 'B1:B3',
4394 Excel requires that range references are only to cells on the same
4396 worksheet.
4397 · date restricts the cell to date values. Dates in Excel are
4399 expressed as integer values but you can also pass an ISO860 style
4400 string as used in "write_date_time()". See also "DATES AND TIME IN
4401 EXCEL" for more information about working with Excel's dates.
4402 validate => 'date',
4404 criteria => '>',
4405 value => 39653, # 24 July 2008
4406 # Or like this:
4407 value => '2008-07-24T',
4408 · time restricts the cell to time values. Times in Excel are
4410 expressed as decimal values but you can also pass an ISO860 style
4411 string as used in "write_date_time()". See also "DATES AND TIME IN
4412 EXCEL" for more information about working with Excel's times.
4413 validate => 'time',
4415 criteria => '>',
4416 value => 0.5, # Noon
4417 # Or like this:
4418 value => 'T12:00:00',
4419 · length restricts the cell data based on an integer string length.
4421 Excel refers to this as 'Text length'.
4422 validate => 'length',
4424 criteria => '>',
4425 value => 10,
4426 · custom restricts the cell based on an external Excel formula that
4428 returns a "TRUE/FALSE" value.
4429 validate => 'custom',
4431 value => '=IF(A10>B10,TRUE,FALSE)',
4432 criteria
4434 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4435 The "criteria" parameter is used to set the criteria by which the data
4437 in the cell is validated. It is almost always required except for the
4438 "list" and "custom" validate options. It has no default value.
4439 Allowable values are:
4440 'between'
4442 'not between'
4443 'equal to' | '==' | '='
4444 'not equal to' | '!=' | '<>'
4445 'greater than' | '>'
4446 'less than' | '<'
4447 'greater than or equal to' | '>='
4448 'less than or equal to' | '<='
4449 You can either use Excel's textual description strings, in the first
4451 column above, or the more common operator alternatives. The following
4452 are equivalent:
4453 validate => 'integer',
4455 criteria => 'greater than',
4456 value => 100,
4457 validate => 'integer',
4459 criteria => '>',
4460 value => 100,
4461 The "list" and "custom" validate options don't require a "criteria". If
4463 you specify one it will be ignored.
4464 validate => 'list',
4466 value => ['open', 'high', 'close'],
4467 validate => 'custom',
4469 value => '=IF(A10>B10,TRUE,FALSE)',
4470 value | minimum | source
4472 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4473 The "value" parameter is used to set the limiting value to which the
4475 "criteria" is applied. It is always required and it has no default
4476 value. You can also use the synonyms "minimum" or "source" to make the
4477 validation a little clearer and closer to Excel's description of the
4478 parameter:
4479 # Use 'value'
4481 validate => 'integer',
4482 criteria => '>',
4483 value => 100,
4484 # Use 'minimum'
4486 validate => 'integer',
4487 criteria => 'between',
4488 minimum => 1,
4489 maximum => 100,
4490 # Use 'source'
4492 validate => 'list',
4493 source => 'B1:B3',
4494 maximum
4496 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4497 The "maximum" parameter is used to set the upper limiting value when
4499 the "criteria" is either 'between' or 'not between':
4500 validate => 'integer',
4502 criteria => 'between',
4503 minimum => 1,
4504 maximum => 100,
4505 ignore_blank
4507 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4508 The "ignore_blank" parameter is used to toggle on and off the 'Ignore
4510 blank' option in the Excel data validation dialog. When the option is
4511 on the data validation is not applied to blank data in the cell. It is
4512 on by default.
4513 ignore_blank => 0, # Turn the option off
4515 dropdown
4517 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4518 The "dropdown" parameter is used to toggle on and off the 'In-cell
4520 dropdown' option in the Excel data validation dialog. When the option
4521 is on a dropdown list will be shown for "list" validations. It is on by
4522 default.
4523 dropdown => 0, # Turn the option off
4525 input_title
4527 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4528 The "input_title" parameter is used to set the title of the input
4530 message that is displayed when a cell is entered. It has no default
4531 value and is only displayed if the input message is displayed. See the
4532 "input_message" parameter below.
4533 input_title => 'This is the input title',
4535 The maximum title length is 32 characters. UTF8 strings are handled
4537 automatically in perl 5.8 and later.
4538 input_message
4540 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4541 The "input_message" parameter is used to set the input message that is
4543 displayed when a cell is entered. It has no default value.
4544 validate => 'integer',
4546 criteria => 'between',
4547 minimum => 1,
4548 maximum => 100,
4549 input_title => 'Enter the applied discount:',
4550 input_message => 'between 1 and 100',
4551 The message can be split over several lines using newlines, "\n" in
4553 double quoted strings.
4554 input_message => "This is\na test.",
4556 The maximum message length is 255 characters. UTF8 strings are handled
4558 automatically in perl 5.8 and later.
4559 show_input
4561 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4562 The "show_input" parameter is used to toggle on and off the 'Show input
4564 message when cell is selected' option in the Excel data validation
4565 dialog. When the option is off an input message is not displayed even
4566 if it has been set using "input_message". It is on by default.
4567 show_input => 0, # Turn the option off
4569 error_title
4571 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4572 The "error_title" parameter is used to set the title of the error
4574 message that is displayed when the data validation criteria is not met.
4575 The default error title is 'Microsoft Excel'.
4576 error_title => 'Input value is not valid',
4578 The maximum title length is 32 characters. UTF8 strings are handled
4580 automatically in perl 5.8 and later.
4581 error_message
4583 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4584 The "error_message" parameter is used to set the error message that is
4586 displayed when a cell is entered. The default error message is "The
4587 value you entered is not valid.\nA user has restricted values that can
4588 be entered into the cell.".
4589 validate => 'integer',
4591 criteria => 'between',
4592 minimum => 1,
4593 maximum => 100,
4594 error_title => 'Input value is not valid',
4595 error_message => 'It should be an integer between 1 and 100',
4596 The message can be split over several lines using newlines, "\n" in
4598 double quoted strings.
4599 input_message => "This is\na test.",
4601 The maximum message length is 255 characters. UTF8 strings are handled
4603 automatically in perl 5.8 and later.
4604 error_type
4606 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4607 The "error_type" parameter is used to specify the type of error dialog
4609 that is displayed. There are 3 options:
4610 'stop'
4612 'warning'
4613 'information'
4614 The default is 'stop'.
4616 show_error
4618 This parameter is passed in a hash ref to "data_validation()".
4619 The "show_error" parameter is used to toggle on and off the 'Show error
4621 alert after invalid data is entered' option in the Excel data
4622 validation dialog. When the option is off an error message is not
4623 displayed even if it has been set using "error_message". It is on by
4624 default.
4625 show_error => 0, # Turn the option off
4627 Data Validation Examples
4629 Example 1. Limiting input to an integer greater than a fixed value.
4630 $worksheet->data_validation('A1',
4632 {
4633 validate => 'integer',
4634 criteria => '>',
4635 value => 0,
4636 });
4637 Example 2. Limiting input to an integer greater than a fixed value
4639 where the value is referenced from a cell.
4640 $worksheet->data_validation('A2',
4642 {
4643 validate => 'integer',
4644 criteria => '>',
4645 value => '=E3',
4646 });
4647 Example 3. Limiting input to a decimal in a fixed range.
4649 $worksheet->data_validation('A3',
4651 {
4652 validate => 'decimal',
4653 criteria => 'between',
4654 minimum => 0.1,
4655 maximum => 0.5,
4656 });
4657 Example 4. Limiting input to a value in a dropdown list.
4659 $worksheet->data_validation('A4',
4661 {
4662 validate => 'list',
4663 source => ['open', 'high', 'close'],
4664 });
4665 Example 5. Limiting input to a value in a dropdown list where the list
4667 is specified as a cell range.
4668 $worksheet->data_validation('A5',
4670 {
4671 validate => 'list',
4672 source => '=E4:G4',
4673 });
4674 Example 6. Limiting input to a date in a fixed range.
4676 $worksheet->data_validation('A6',
4678 {
4679 validate => 'date',
4680 criteria => 'between',
4681 minimum => '2008-01-01T',
4682 maximum => '2008-12-12T',
4683 });
4684 Example 7. Displaying a message when the cell is selected.
4686 $worksheet->data_validation('A7',
4688 {
4689 validate => 'integer',
4690 criteria => 'between',
4691 minimum => 1,
4692 maximum => 100,
4693 input_title => 'Enter an integer:',
4694 input_message => 'between 1 and 100',
4695 });
4696 See also the "data_validate.pl" program in the examples directory of
4698 the distro.
4699
4701 Caveats
4702 The first thing to note is that there are still some outstanding issues
4703 with the implementation of formulas and functions:
4704 1. Writing a formula is much slower than writing the equivalent string.
4706 2. You cannot use array constants, i.e. {1;2;3}, in functions.
4707 3. Unary minus isn't supported.
4708 4. Whitespace is not preserved around operators.
4709 5. Named ranges are not supported.
4710 6. Array formulas are not supported.
4711 However, these constraints will be removed in future versions. They are
4713 here because of a trade-off between features and time. Also, it is
4714 possible to work around issue 1 using the "store_formula()" and
4715 "repeat_formula()" methods as described later in this section.
4716 Introduction
4718 The following is a brief introduction to formulas and functions in
4719 Excel and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.
4720 A formula is a string that begins with an equals sign:
4722 '=A1+B1'
4724 '=AVERAGE(1, 2, 3)'
4725 The formula can contain numbers, strings, boolean values, cell
4727 references, cell ranges and functions. Named ranges are not supported.
4728 Formulas should be written as they appear in Excel, that is cells and
4729 functions must be in uppercase.
4730 Cells in Excel are referenced using the A1 notation system where the
4732 column is designated by a letter and the row by a number. Columns range
4733 from A to IV i.e. 0 to 255, rows range from 1 to 65536. The
4734 "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility" module that is included in the
4735 distro contains helper functions for dealing with A1 notation, for
4736 example:
4737 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Utility;
4739 ($row, $col) = xl_cell_to_rowcol('C2'); # (1, 2)
4741 $str = xl_rowcol_to_cell(1, 2); # C2
4742 The Excel "$" notation in cell references is also supported. This
4744 allows you to specify whether a row or column is relative or absolute.
4745 This only has an effect if the cell is copied. The following examples
4746 show relative and absolute values.
4747 '=A1' # Column and row are relative
4749 '=$A1' # Column is absolute and row is relative
4750 '=A$1' # Column is relative and row is absolute
4751 '=$A$1' # Column and row are absolute
4752 Formulas can also refer to cells in other worksheets of the current
4754 workbook. For example:
4755 '=Sheet2!A1'
4757 '=Sheet2!A1:A5'
4758 '=Sheet2:Sheet3!A1'
4759 '=Sheet2:Sheet3!A1:A5'
4760 q{='Test Data'!A1}
4761 q{='Test Data1:Test Data2'!A1}
4762 The sheet reference and the cell reference are separated by "!" the
4764 exclamation mark symbol. If worksheet names contain spaces, commas o
4765 parentheses then Excel requires that the name is enclosed in single
4766 quotes as shown in the last two examples above. In order to avoid using
4767 a lot of escape characters you can use the quote operator "q{}" to
4768 protect the quotes. See "perlop" in the main Perl documentation. Only
4769 valid sheet names that have been added using the "add_worksheet()"
4770 method can be used in formulas. You cannot reference external
4771 workbooks.
4772 The following table lists the operators that are available in Excel's
4774 formulas. The majority of the operators are the same as Perl's,
4775 differences are indicated:
4776 Arithmetic operators:
4778 =====================
4779 Operator Meaning Example
4780 + Addition 1+2
4781 - Subtraction 2-1
4782 * Multiplication 2*3
4783 / Division 1/4
4784 ^ Exponentiation 2^3 # Equivalent to **
4785 - Unary minus -(1+2) # Not yet supported
4786 % Percent (Not modulus) 13% # Not supported, [1]
4787 Comparison operators:
4790 =====================
4791 Operator Meaning Example
4792 = Equal to A1 = B1 # Equivalent to ==
4793 <> Not equal to A1 <> B1 # Equivalent to !=
4794 > Greater than A1 > B1
4795 < Less than A1 < B1
4796 >= Greater than or equal to A1 >= B1
4797 <= Less than or equal to A1 <= B1
4798 String operator:
4801 ================
4802 Operator Meaning Example
4803 & Concatenation "Hello " & "World!" # [2]
4804 Reference operators:
4807 ====================
4808 Operator Meaning Example
4809 : Range operator A1:A4 # [3]
4810 , Union operator SUM(1, 2+2, B3) # [4]
4811 Notes:
4814 [1]: You can get a percentage with formatting and modulus with MOD().
4815 [2]: Equivalent to ("Hello " . "World!") in Perl.
4816 [3]: This range is equivalent to cells A1, A2, A3 and A4.
4817 [4]: The comma behaves like the list separator in Perl.
4818 The range and comma operators can have different symbols in non-English
4820 versions of Excel. These will be supported in a later version of
4821 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. European users of Excel take note:
4822 $worksheet->write('A1', '=SUM(1; 2; 3)'); # Wrong!!
4824 $worksheet->write('A1', '=SUM(1, 2, 3)'); # Okay
4825 The following table lists all of the core functions supported by Excel
4827 5 and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. Any additional functions that are
4828 available through the "Analysis ToolPak" or other add-ins are not
4829 supported. These functions have all been tested to verify that they
4830 work.
4831 ABS DB INDIRECT NORMINV SLN
4833 ACOS DCOUNT INFO NORMSDIST SLOPE
4834 ACOSH DCOUNTA INT NORMSINV SMALL
4835 ADDRESS DDB INTERCEPT NOT SQRT
4836 AND DEGREES IPMT NOW STANDARDIZE
4837 AREAS DEVSQ IRR NPER STDEV
4838 ASIN DGET ISBLANK NPV STDEVP
4839 ASINH DMAX ISERR ODD STEYX
4840 ATAN DMIN ISERROR OFFSET SUBSTITUTE
4841 ATAN2 DOLLAR ISLOGICAL OR SUBTOTAL
4842 ATANH DPRODUCT ISNA PEARSON SUM
4843 AVEDEV DSTDEV ISNONTEXT PERCENTILE SUMIF
4844 AVERAGE DSTDEVP ISNUMBER PERCENTRANK SUMPRODUCT
4845 BETADIST DSUM ISREF PERMUT SUMSQ
4846 BETAINV DVAR ISTEXT PI SUMX2MY2
4847 BINOMDIST DVARP KURT PMT SUMX2PY2
4848 CALL ERROR.TYPE LARGE POISSON SUMXMY2
4849 CEILING EVEN LEFT POWER SYD
4850 CELL EXACT LEN PPMT T
4851 CHAR EXP LINEST PROB TAN
4852 CHIDIST EXPONDIST LN PRODUCT TANH
4853 CHIINV FACT LOG PROPER TDIST
4854 CHITEST FALSE LOG10 PV TEXT
4855 CHOOSE FDIST LOGEST QUARTILE TIME
4856 CLEAN FIND LOGINV RADIANS TIMEVALUE
4857 CODE FINV LOGNORMDIST RAND TINV
4858 COLUMN FISHER LOOKUP RANK TODAY
4859 COLUMNS FISHERINV LOWER RATE TRANSPOSE
4860 COMBIN FIXED MATCH REGISTER.ID TREND
4861 CONCATENATE FLOOR MAX REPLACE TRIM
4862 CONFIDENCE FORECAST MDETERM REPT TRIMMEAN
4863 CORREL FREQUENCY MEDIAN RIGHT TRUE
4864 COS FTEST MID ROMAN TRUNC
4865 COSH FV MIN ROUND TTEST
4866 COUNT GAMMADIST MINUTE ROUNDDOWN TYPE
4867 COUNTA GAMMAINV MINVERSE ROUNDUP UPPER
4868 COUNTBLANK GAMMALN MIRR ROW VALUE
4869 COUNTIF GEOMEAN MMULT ROWS VAR
4870 COVAR GROWTH MOD RSQ VARP
4871 CRITBINOM HARMEAN MODE SEARCH VDB
4872 DATE HLOOKUP MONTH SECOND VLOOKUP
4873 DATEVALUE HOUR N SIGN WEEKDAY
4874 DAVERAGE HYPGEOMDIST NA SIN WEIBULL
4875 DAY IF NEGBINOMDIST SINH YEAR
4876 DAYS360 INDEX NORMDIST SKEW ZTEST
4877 You can also modify the module to support function names in the
4879 following languages: German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch,
4880 Finnish, Italian and Swedish. See the "function_locale.pl" program in
4881 the "examples" directory of the distro.
4882 For a general introduction to Excel's formulas and an explanation of
4884 the syntax of the function refer to the Excel help files or the
4885 following:
4886 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/CH062528031033.aspx
4887 <http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/CH062528031033.aspx>.
4888 If your formula doesn't work in Spreadsheet::WriteExcel try the
4890 following:
4891 1. Verify that the formula works in Excel (or Gnumeric or OpenOffice.org).
4893 2. Ensure that it isn't on the Caveats list shown above.
4894 3. Ensure that cell references and formula names are in uppercase.
4895 4. Ensure that you are using ':' as the range operator, A1:A4.
4896 5. Ensure that you are using ',' as the union operator, SUM(1,2,3).
4897 6. Ensure that the function is in the above table.
4898 If you go through steps 1-6 and you still have a problem, mail me.
4900 Improving performance when working with formulas
4902 Writing a large number of formulas with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel can be
4903 slow. This is due to the fact that each formula has to be parsed and
4904 with the current implementation this is computationally expensive.
4905 However, in a lot of cases the formulas that you write will be quite
4907 similar, for example:
4908 $worksheet->write_formula('B1', '=A1 * 3 + 50', $format);
4910 $worksheet->write_formula('B2', '=A2 * 3 + 50', $format);
4911 ...
4912 ...
4913 $worksheet->write_formula('B99', '=A999 * 3 + 50', $format);
4914 $worksheet->write_formula('B1000', '=A1000 * 3 + 50', $format);
4915 In this example the cell reference changes in iterations from "A1" to
4917 "A1000". The parser treats this variable as a token and arranges it
4918 according to predefined rules. However, since the parser is oblivious
4919 to the value of the token, it is essentially performing the same
4920 calculation 1000 times. This is inefficient.
4921 The way to avoid this inefficiency and thereby speed up the writing of
4923 formulas is to parse the formula once and then repeatedly substitute
4924 similar tokens.
4925 A formula can be parsed and stored via the "store_formula()" worksheet
4927 method. You can then use the "repeat_formula()" method to substitute
4928 $pattern, $replace pairs in the stored formula:
4929 my $formula = $worksheet->store_formula('=A1 * 3 + 50');
4931 for my $row (0..999) {
4933 $worksheet->repeat_formula($row, 1, $formula, $format, 'A1', 'A'.($row +1));
4934 }
4935 On an arbitrary test machine this method was 10 times faster than the
4937 brute force method shown above.
4938 For more information about how Spreadsheet::WriteExcel parses and
4940 stores formulas see the "Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Formula" man page.
4941 It should be noted however that the overall speed of direct formula
4943 parsing will be improved in a future version.
4944
4946 See Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Examples for a full list of examples.
4947 Example 1
4949 The following example shows some of the basic features of
4950 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.
4951 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
4953 use strict;
4955 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
4956 # Create a new workbook called simple.xls and add a worksheet
4958 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('simple.xls');
4959 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
4960 # The general syntax is write($row, $column, $token). Note that row and
4962 # column are zero indexed
4963 # Write some text
4965 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Hi Excel!');
4966 # Write some numbers
4969 $worksheet->write(2, 0, 3); # Writes 3
4970 $worksheet->write(3, 0, 3.00000); # Writes 3
4971 $worksheet->write(4, 0, 3.00001); # Writes 3.00001
4972 $worksheet->write(5, 0, 3.14159); # TeX revision no.?
4973 # Write some formulas
4976 $worksheet->write(7, 0, '=A3 + A6');
4977 $worksheet->write(8, 0, '=IF(A5>3,"Yes", "No")');
4978 # Write a hyperlink
4981 $worksheet->write(10, 0, 'http://www.perl.com/');
4982 Example 2
4984 The following is a general example which demonstrates some features of
4985 working with multiple worksheets.
4986 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
4988 use strict;
4990 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
4991 # Create a new Excel workbook
4993 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('regions.xls');
4994 # Add some worksheets
4996 my $north = $workbook->add_worksheet('North');
4997 my $south = $workbook->add_worksheet('South');
4998 my $east = $workbook->add_worksheet('East');
4999 my $west = $workbook->add_worksheet('West');
5000 # Add a Format
5002 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
5003 $format->set_bold();
5004 $format->set_color('blue');
5005 # Add a caption to each worksheet
5007 foreach my $worksheet ($workbook->sheets()) {
5008 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Sales', $format);
5009 }
5010 # Write some data
5012 $north->write(0, 1, 200000);
5013 $south->write(0, 1, 100000);
5014 $east->write (0, 1, 150000);
5015 $west->write (0, 1, 100000);
5016 # Set the active worksheet
5018 $south->activate();
5019 # Set the width of the first column
5021 $south->set_column(0, 0, 20);
5022 # Set the active cell
5024 $south->set_selection(0, 1);
5025 Example 3
5027 This example shows how to use a conditional numerical format with
5028 colours to indicate if a share price has gone up or down.
5029 use strict;
5031 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
5032 # Create a new workbook and add a worksheet
5034 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('stocks.xls');
5035 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
5036 # Set the column width for columns 1, 2, 3 and 4
5038 $worksheet->set_column(0, 3, 15);
5039 # Create a format for the column headings
5042 my $header = $workbook->add_format();
5043 $header->set_bold();
5044 $header->set_size(12);
5045 $header->set_color('blue');
5046 # Create a format for the stock price
5049 my $f_price = $workbook->add_format();
5050 $f_price->set_align('left');
5051 $f_price->set_num_format('$0.00');
5052 # Create a format for the stock volume
5055 my $f_volume = $workbook->add_format();
5056 $f_volume->set_align('left');
5057 $f_volume->set_num_format('#,##0');
5058 # Create a format for the price change. This is an example of a
5061 # conditional format. The number is formatted as a percentage. If it is
5062 # positive it is formatted in green, if it is negative it is formatted
5063 # in red and if it is zero it is formatted as the default font colour
5064 # (in this case black). Note: the [Green] format produces an unappealing
5065 # lime green. Try [Color 10] instead for a dark green.
5066 #
5067 my $f_change = $workbook->add_format();
5068 $f_change->set_align('left');
5069 $f_change->set_num_format('[Green]0.0%;[Red]-0.0%;0.0%');
5070 # Write out the data
5073 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Company',$header);
5074 $worksheet->write(0, 1, 'Price', $header);
5075 $worksheet->write(0, 2, 'Volume', $header);
5076 $worksheet->write(0, 3, 'Change', $header);
5077 $worksheet->write(1, 0, 'Damage Inc.' );
5079 $worksheet->write(1, 1, 30.25, $f_price ); # $30.25
5080 $worksheet->write(1, 2, 1234567, $f_volume); # 1,234,567
5081 $worksheet->write(1, 3, 0.085, $f_change); # 8.5% in green
5082 $worksheet->write(2, 0, 'Dump Corp.' );
5084 $worksheet->write(2, 1, 1.56, $f_price ); # $1.56
5085 $worksheet->write(2, 2, 7564, $f_volume); # 7,564
5086 $worksheet->write(2, 3, -0.015, $f_change); # -1.5% in red
5087 $worksheet->write(3, 0, 'Rev Ltd.' );
5089 $worksheet->write(3, 1, 0.13, $f_price ); # $0.13
5090 $worksheet->write(3, 2, 321, $f_volume); # 321
5091 $worksheet->write(3, 3, 0, $f_change); # 0 in the font color (black)
5092 Example 4
5094 The following is a simple example of using functions.
5095 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
5097 use strict;
5099 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
5100 # Create a new workbook and add a worksheet
5102 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('stats.xls');
5103 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet('Test data');
5104 # Set the column width for columns 1
5106 $worksheet->set_column(0, 0, 20);
5107 # Create a format for the headings
5110 my $format = $workbook->add_format();
5111 $format->set_bold();
5112 # Write the sample data
5115 $worksheet->write(0, 0, 'Sample', $format);
5116 $worksheet->write(0, 1, 1);
5117 $worksheet->write(0, 2, 2);
5118 $worksheet->write(0, 3, 3);
5119 $worksheet->write(0, 4, 4);
5120 $worksheet->write(0, 5, 5);
5121 $worksheet->write(0, 6, 6);
5122 $worksheet->write(0, 7, 7);
5123 $worksheet->write(0, 8, 8);
5124 $worksheet->write(1, 0, 'Length', $format);
5126 $worksheet->write(1, 1, 25.4);
5127 $worksheet->write(1, 2, 25.4);
5128 $worksheet->write(1, 3, 24.8);
5129 $worksheet->write(1, 4, 25.0);
5130 $worksheet->write(1, 5, 25.3);
5131 $worksheet->write(1, 6, 24.9);
5132 $worksheet->write(1, 7, 25.2);
5133 $worksheet->write(1, 8, 24.8);
5134 # Write some statistical functions
5136 $worksheet->write(4, 0, 'Count', $format);
5137 $worksheet->write(4, 1, '=COUNT(B1:I1)');
5138 $worksheet->write(5, 0, 'Sum', $format);
5140 $worksheet->write(5, 1, '=SUM(B2:I2)');
5141 $worksheet->write(6, 0, 'Average', $format);
5143 $worksheet->write(6, 1, '=AVERAGE(B2:I2)');
5144 $worksheet->write(7, 0, 'Min', $format);
5146 $worksheet->write(7, 1, '=MIN(B2:I2)');
5147 $worksheet->write(8, 0, 'Max', $format);
5149 $worksheet->write(8, 1, '=MAX(B2:I2)');
5150 $worksheet->write(9, 0, 'Standard Deviation', $format);
5152 $worksheet->write(9, 1, '=STDEV(B2:I2)');
5153 $worksheet->write(10, 0, 'Kurtosis', $format);
5155 $worksheet->write(10, 1, '=KURT(B2:I2)');
5156 Example 5
5158 The following example converts a tab separated file called "tab.txt"
5159 into an Excel file called "tab.xls".
5160 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
5162 use strict;
5164 use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;
5165 open (TABFILE, 'tab.txt') or die "tab.txt: $!";
5167 my $workbook = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('tab.xls');
5169 my $worksheet = $workbook->add_worksheet();
5170 # Row and column are zero indexed
5172 my $row = 0;
5173 while (<TABFILE>) {
5175 chomp;
5176 # Split on single tab
5177 my @Fld = split('\t', $_);
5178 my $col = 0;
5180 foreach my $token (@Fld) {
5181 $worksheet->write($row, $col, $token);
5182 $col++;
5183 }
5184 $row++;
5185 }
5186 NOTE: This is a simple conversion program for illustrative purposes
5188 only. For converting a CSV or Tab separated or any other type of
5189 delimited text file to Excel I recommend the more rigorous csv2xls
5190 program that is part of H.Merijn Brand's Text::CSV_XS module distro.
5191 See the examples/csv2xls link here:
5193 http://search.cpan.org/~hmbrand/Text-CSV_XS/MANIFEST
5194 <http://search.cpan.org/~hmbrand/Text-CSV_XS/MANIFEST>.
5195 Additional Examples
5197 The following is a description of the example files that are provided
5198 in the standard Spreadsheet::WriteExcel distribution. They demonstrate
5199 the different features and options of the module. See
5200 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Examples for more details.
5201 Getting started
5203 ===============
5204 a_simple.pl A get started example with some basic features.
5205 demo.pl A demo of some of the available features.
5206 regions.pl A simple example of multiple worksheets.
5207 stats.pl Basic formulas and functions.
5208 formats.pl All the available formatting on several worksheets.
5209 bug_report.pl A template for submitting bug reports.
5210 Advanced
5213 ========
5214 autofilter.pl Examples of worksheet autofilters.
5215 autofit.pl Simulate Excel's autofit for column widths.
5216 bigfile.pl Write past the 7MB limit with OLE::Storage_Lite.
5217 cgi.pl A simple CGI program.
5218 chart_area.pl A demo of area style charts.
5219 chart_bar.pl A demo of bar (vertical histogram) style charts.
5220 chart_column.pl A demo of column (histogram) style charts.
5221 chart_line.pl A demo of line style charts.
5222 chart_pie.pl A demo of pie style charts.
5223 chart_scatter.pl A demo of scatter style charts.
5224 chart_stock.pl A demo of stock style charts.
5225 chess.pl An example of reusing formatting via properties.
5226 colors.pl A demo of the colour palette and named colours.
5227 comments1.pl Add comments to worksheet cells.
5228 comments2.pl Add comments with advanced options.
5229 copyformat.pl Example of copying a cell format.
5230 data_validate.pl An example of data validation and dropdown lists.
5231 date_time.pl Write dates and times with write_date_time().
5232 defined_name.pl Example of how to create defined names.
5233 diag_border.pl A simple example of diagonal cell borders.
5234 easter_egg.pl Expose the Excel97 flight simulator.
5235 filehandle.pl Examples of working with filehandles.
5236 formula_result.pl Formulas with user specified results.
5237 headers.pl Examples of worksheet headers and footers.
5238 hide_sheet.pl Simple example of hiding a worksheet.
5239 hyperlink1.pl Shows how to create web hyperlinks.
5240 hyperlink2.pl Examples of internal and external hyperlinks.
5241 images.pl Adding images to worksheets.
5242 indent.pl An example of cell indentation.
5243 merge1.pl A simple example of cell merging.
5244 merge2.pl A simple example of cell merging with formatting.
5245 merge3.pl Add hyperlinks to merged cells.
5246 merge4.pl An advanced example of merging with formatting.
5247 merge5.pl An advanced example of merging with formatting.
5248 merge6.pl An example of merging with Unicode strings.
5249 mod_perl1.pl A simple mod_perl 1 program.
5250 mod_perl2.pl A simple mod_perl 2 program.
5251 outline.pl An example of outlines and grouping.
5252 outline_collapsed.pl An example of collapsed outlines.
5253 panes.pl An examples of how to create panes.
5254 properties.pl Add document properties to a workbook.
5255 protection.pl Example of cell locking and formula hiding.
5256 repeat.pl Example of writing repeated formulas.
5257 right_to_left.pl Change default sheet direction to right to left.
5258 row_wrap.pl How to wrap data from one worksheet onto another.
5259 sales.pl An example of a simple sales spreadsheet.
5260 sendmail.pl Send an Excel email attachment using Mail::Sender.
5261 stats_ext.pl Same as stats.pl with external references.
5262 stocks.pl Demonstrates conditional formatting.
5263 tab_colors.pl Example of how to set worksheet tab colours.
5264 textwrap.pl Demonstrates text wrapping options.
5265 win32ole.pl A sample Win32::OLE example for comparison.
5266 write_arrays.pl Example of writing 1D or 2D arrays of data.
5267 write_handler1.pl Example of extending the write() method. Step 1.
5268 write_handler2.pl Example of extending the write() method. Step 2.
5269 write_handler3.pl Example of extending the write() method. Step 3.
5270 write_handler4.pl Example of extending the write() method. Step 4.
5271 write_to_scalar.pl Example of writing an Excel file to a Perl scalar.
5272 Unicode
5275 =======
5276 unicode_utf16.pl Simple example of using Unicode UTF16 strings.
5277 unicode_utf16_japan.pl Write Japanese Unicode strings using UTF-16.
5278 unicode_cyrillic.pl Write Russian Cyrillic strings using UTF-8.
5279 unicode_list.pl List the chars in a Unicode font.
5280 unicode_2022_jp.pl Japanese: ISO-2022-JP to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5281 unicode_8859_11.pl Thai: ISO-8859_11 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5282 unicode_8859_7.pl Greek: ISO-8859_7 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5283 unicode_big5.pl Chinese: BIG5 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5284 unicode_cp1251.pl Russian: CP1251 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5285 unicode_cp1256.pl Arabic: CP1256 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5286 unicode_koi8r.pl Russian: KOI8-R to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5287 unicode_polish_utf8.pl Polish : UTF8 to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5288 unicode_shift_jis.pl Japanese: Shift JIS to utf8 in perl 5.8.
5289 Utility
5292 =======
5293 csv2xls.pl Program to convert a CSV file to an Excel file.
5294 tab2xls.pl Program to convert a tab separated file to xls.
5295 datecalc1.pl Convert Unix/Perl time to Excel time.
5296 datecalc2.pl Calculate an Excel date using Date::Calc.
5297 lecxe.pl Convert Excel to WriteExcel using Win32::OLE.
5298 Developer
5301 =========
5302 convertA1.pl Helper functions for dealing with A1 notation.
5303 function_locale.pl Add non-English function names to Formula.pm.
5304 writeA1.pl Example of how to extend the module.
5305
5307 The following limits are imposed by Excel:
5308 Description Limit
5310 ----------------------------------- ------
5311 Maximum number of chars in a string 32767
5312 Maximum number of columns 256
5313 Maximum number of rows 65536
5314 Maximum chars in a sheet name 31
5315 Maximum chars in a header/footer 254
5316 The minimum file size is 6K due to the OLE overhead. The maximum file
5318 size is approximately 7MB (7087104 bytes) of BIFF data. This can be
5319 extended by installing Takanori Kawai's OLE::Storage_Lite module
5320 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=OLE-Storage_Lite
5321 <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=OLE-Storage_Lite> see the
5322 "bigfile.pl" example in the "examples" directory of the distro.
5323
5325 The latest version of this module is always available at:
5326 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Spreadsheet-WriteExcel/
5327 <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Spreadsheet-WriteExcel/>.
5328
5330 This module requires Perl >= 5.005, Parse::RecDescent, File::Temp and
5331 OLE::Storage_Lite:
5332 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Parse-RecDescent/ # For formulas.
5334 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=File-Temp/ # For set_tempdir().
5335 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=OLE-Storage_Lite/ # For files > 7MB.
5336 Note, these aren't strict requirements. Spreadsheet::WriteExcel will
5338 work without these modules if you don't use write_formula(),
5339 set_tempdir() or create files greater than 7MB. However, it is best to
5340 install them if possible and they will be installed automatically if
5341 you use a tool such as CPAN.pm or ppm.
5342
5344 See the INSTALL or install.html docs that come with the distribution
5345 or:
5346 http://search.cpan.org/src/JMCNAMARA/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-2.31/INSTALL
5347 <http://search.cpan.org/src/JMCNAMARA/Spreadsheet-
5348 WriteExcel-2.31/INSTALL>.
5349
5351 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel will work on the majority of Windows, UNIX and
5352 Macintosh platforms. Specifically, the module will work on any system
5353 where perl packs floats in the 64 bit IEEE format. The float must also
5354 be in little-endian format but it will be reversed if necessary. Thus:
5355 print join(' ', map { sprintf '%#02x', $_ } unpack('C*', pack 'd', 1.2345)), "\n";
5357 should give (or in reverse order):
5359 0x8d 0x97 0x6e 0x12 0x83 0xc0 0xf3 0x3f
5361 In general, if you don't know whether your system supports a 64 bit
5363 IEEE float or not, it probably does. If your system doesn't, WriteExcel
5364 will "croak()" with the message given in the DIAGNOSTICS section. You
5365 can check which platforms the module has been tested on at the CPAN
5366 testers site:
5367 http://testers.cpan.org/search?request=dist&dist=Spreadsheet-WriteExcel
5368 <http://testers.cpan.org/search?request=dist&dist=Spreadsheet-
5369 WriteExcel>.
5370
5372 Filename required by Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new()
5373 A filename must be given in the constructor.
5374 Can't open filename. It may be in use or protected.
5376 The file cannot be opened for writing. The directory that you are
5377 writing to may be protected or the file may be in use by another
5378 program.
5379 Unable to create tmp files via File::Temp::tempfile()...
5381 This is a "-w" warning. You will see it if you are using
5382 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel in an environment where temporary files
5383 cannot be created, in which case all data will be stored in memory.
5384 The warning is for information only: it does not affect creation
5385 but it will affect the speed of execution for large files. See the
5386 "set_tempdir" workbook method.
5387 Maximum file size, 7087104, exceeded.
5389 The current OLE implementation only supports a maximum BIFF file of
5390 this size. This limit can be extended, see the LIMITATIONS section.
5391 Can't locate Parse/RecDescent.pm in @INC ...
5393 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel requires the Parse::RecDescent module.
5394 Download it from CPAN:
5395 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Parse-RecDescent
5396 <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Parse-RecDescent>
5397 Couldn't parse formula ...
5399 There are a large number of warnings which relate to badly formed
5400 formulas and functions. See the "FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS IN EXCEL"
5401 section for suggestions on how to avoid these errors. You should
5402 also check the formula in Excel to ensure that it is valid.
5403 Required floating point format not supported on this platform.
5405 Operating system doesn't support 64 bit IEEE float or it is byte-
5406 ordered in a way unknown to WriteExcel.
5407 'file.xls' cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only ...
5409 You may sometimes encounter the following error when trying to open
5410 a file in Excel: "file.xls cannot be accessed. The file may be
5411 read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or,
5412 the server the document is stored on may not be responding."
5413 This error generally means that the Excel file has been corrupted.
5415 There are two likely causes of this: the file was FTPed in ASCII
5416 mode instead of binary mode or else the file was created with
5417 "UTF-8" data returned by an XML parser. See "Warning about
5418 XML::Parser and perl 5.6" for further details.
5419
5421 The following is some general information about the Excel binary format
5422 for anyone who may be interested.
5423 Excel data is stored in the "Binary Interchange File Format" (BIFF)
5425 file format. Details of this format are given in "Excel 97-2007 Binary
5426 File Format Specification"
5427 <http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/OfficeBinaryFormats.mspx>.
5428 Daniel Rentz of OpenOffice.org has also written a detailed description
5430 of the Excel workbook records, see
5431 <http://sc.openoffice.org/excelfileformat.pdf>.
5432 Charles Wybble has collected together additional information about the
5434 Excel file format. See "The Chicago Project" at
5435 <http://chicago.sourceforge.net/devel/>.
5436 The BIFF data is stored along with other data in an OLE Compound File.
5438 This is a structured storage which acts like a file system within a
5439 file. A Compound File is comprised of storages and streams which, to
5440 follow the file system analogy, are like directories and files.
5441 The OLE format is explained in the "Windows Compound Binary File Format
5443 Specification"
5444 <http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/supportingtechnologies.mspx>
5445 The Digital Imaging Group have also detailed the OLE format in the
5447 JPEG2000 specification: see Appendix A of
5448 <http://www.i3a.org/pdf/wg1n1017.pdf>.
5449 Please note that the provision of this information does not constitute
5451 an invitation to start hacking at the BIFF or OLE file formats. There
5452 are more interesting ways to waste your time. ;-)
5453
5455 Depending on your requirements, background and general sensibilities
5456 you may prefer one of the following methods of getting data into Excel:
5457 · Win32::OLE module and office automation
5459 This requires a Windows platform and an installed copy of Excel.
5461 This is the most powerful and complete method for interfacing with
5462 Excel. See
5463 http://www.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl-5.6/faq/Windows/ActivePerl-Winfaq12.html
5464 <http://www.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl-5.6/faq/Windows/ActivePerl-
5465 Winfaq12.html> and
5466 http://www.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl-5.6/site/lib/Win32/OLE.html
5467 <http://www.activestate.com/ASPN/Reference/Products/ActivePerl-5.6/site/lib/Win32/OLE.html>.
5468 If your main platform is UNIX but you have the resources to set up
5469 a separate Win32/MSOffice server, you can convert office documents
5470 to text, postscript or PDF using Win32::OLE. For a demonstration of
5471 how to do this using Perl see Docserver:
5472 <http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=docserver>.
5473 · CSV, comma separated variables or text
5475 If the file extension is "csv", Excel will open and convert this
5477 format automatically. Generating a valid CSV file isn't as easy as
5478 it seems. Have a look at the DBD::RAM, DBD::CSV, Text::xSV and
5479 Text::CSV_XS modules.
5480 · DBI with DBD::ADO or DBD::ODBC
5482 Excel files contain an internal index table that allows them to act
5484 like a database file. Using one of the standard Perl database
5485 modules you can connect to an Excel file as a database.
5486 · DBD::Excel
5488 You can also access Spreadsheet::WriteExcel using the standard DBI
5490 interface via Takanori Kawai's DBD::Excel module
5491 http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBD-Excel
5492 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBD-Excel>
5493 · Spreadsheet::WriteExcelXML
5495 This module allows you to create an Excel XML file using the same
5497 interface as Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. See:
5498 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcelXML
5499 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcelXML>
5500 · Excel::Template
5502 This module allows you to create an Excel file from an XML template
5504 in a manner similar to HTML::Template. See
5505 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Excel-Template/
5506 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Excel-Template/>.
5507 · Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::FromXML
5509 This module allows you to turn a simple XML file into an Excel file
5511 using Spreadsheet::WriteExcel as a back-end. The format of the XML
5512 file is defined by a supplied DTD:
5513 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromXML
5514 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromXML>.
5515 · Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::Simple
5517 This provides an easier interface to Spreadsheet::WriteExcel:
5519 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-Simple
5520 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-Simple>.
5521 · Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::FromDB
5523 This is a useful module for creating Excel files directly from a DB
5525 table: http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromDB
5526 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromDB>.
5527 · HTML tables
5529 This is an easy way of adding formatting via a text based format.
5531 · XML or HTML
5533 The Excel XML and HTML file specification are available from
5535 <http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/officedev/ofxml2k/ofxml2k.htm>.
5536 For other Perl-Excel modules try the following search:
5538 <http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=excel>.
5539
5541 To read data from Excel files try:
5542 · Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
5544 This uses the OLE::Storage-Lite module to extract data from an
5546 Excel file. http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel
5547 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel>.
5548 · Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML
5550 This module uses Spreadsheet::ParseExcel's interface but uses
5552 xlHtml (see below) to do the conversion:
5553 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel_XLHTML
5554 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel_XLHTML>
5555 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel_XLHTML
5556 · xlHtml
5558 This is an open source "Excel to HTML Converter" C/C++ project at
5560 <http://chicago.sourceforge.net/xlhtml/>.
5561 · DBD::Excel (reading)
5563 You can also access Spreadsheet::ParseExcel using the standard DBI
5565 interface via Takanori Kawai's DBD::Excel module
5566 http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBD-Excel
5567 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBD-Excel>.
5568 · Win32::OLE module and office automation (reading)
5570 See, the section "WRITING EXCEL FILES".
5572 · HTML tables (reading)
5574 If the files are saved from Excel in a HTML format the data can be
5576 accessed using HTML::TableExtract
5577 http://search.cpan.org/dist/HTML-TableExtract
5578 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/HTML-TableExtract>.
5579 · DBI with DBD::ADO or DBD::ODBC.
5581 See, the section "WRITING EXCEL FILES".
5583 · XML::Excel
5585 Converts Excel files to XML using Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
5587 http://search.cpan.org/dist/XML-Excel
5588 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/XML-Excel>.
5589 · OLE::Storage, aka LAOLA
5591 This is a Perl interface to OLE file formats. In particular, the
5593 distro contains an Excel to HTML converter called Herbert,
5594 http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~schwartz/pmh/ <http://user.cs.tu-
5595 berlin.de/~schwartz/pmh/>. This has been superseded by the
5596 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module.
5597 For other Perl-Excel modules try the following search:
5599 <http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=excel>.
5600 If you wish to view Excel files on a UNIX/Linux platform check out the
5602 excellent Gnumeric spreadsheet application at
5603 <http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/> or OpenOffice.org at
5604 <http://www.openoffice.org/>.
5605 If you wish to view Excel files on a Windows platform which doesn't
5607 have Excel installed you can use the free Microsoft Excel Viewer
5608 <http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/xlviewer.aspx>.
5609
5611 An Excel file is a binary file within a binary file. It contains
5612 several interlinked checksums and changing even one byte can cause it
5613 to become corrupted.
5614 As such you cannot simply append or update an Excel file. The only way
5616 to achieve this is to read the entire file into memory, make the
5617 required changes or additions and then write the file out again.
5618 You can read and rewrite an Excel file using the
5620 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::SaveParser module which is a wrapper around
5621 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. It is part of the
5622 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel package:
5623 http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Spreadsheet-ParseExcel
5624 <http://search.cpan.org/search?dist=Spreadsheet-ParseExcel>.
5625 However, you can only rewrite the features that Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
5627 supports so macros, graphs and some other features in the original
5628 Excel file will be lost. Also, formulas aren't rewritten, only the
5629 result of a formula is written.
5630 Here is an example:
5632 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
5634 use strict;
5636 use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;
5637 use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::SaveParser;
5638 # Open the template with SaveParser
5640 my $parser = new Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::SaveParser;
5641 my $template = $parser->Parse('template.xls');
5642 my $sheet = 0;
5644 my $row = 0;
5645 my $col = 0;
5646 # Get the format from the cell
5648 my $format = $template->{Worksheet}[$sheet]
5649 ->{Cells}[$row][$col]
5650 ->{FormatNo};
5651 # Write data to some cells
5653 $template->AddCell(0, $row, $col, 1, $format);
5654 $template->AddCell(0, $row+1, $col, "Hello", $format);
5655 # Add a new worksheet
5657 $template->AddWorksheet('New Data');
5658 # The SaveParser SaveAs() method returns a reference to a
5660 # Spreadsheet::WriteExcel object. If you wish you can then
5661 # use this to access any of the methods that aren't
5662 # available from the SaveParser object. If you don't need
5663 # to do this just use SaveAs().
5664 #
5665 my $workbook;
5666 {
5668 # SaveAs generates a lot of harmless warnings about unset
5669 # Worksheet properties. You can ignore them if you wish.
5670 local $^W = 0;
5671 # Rewrite the file or save as a new file
5673 $workbook = $template->SaveAs('new.xls');
5674 }
5675 # Use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel methods
5677 my $worksheet = $workbook->sheets(0);
5678 $worksheet->write($row+2, $col, "World2");
5680 $workbook->close();
5682
5684 You must be careful when using Spreadsheet::WriteExcel in conjunction
5685 with perl 5.6 and XML::Parser (and other XML parsers) due to the fact
5686 that the data returned by the parser is generally in "UTF-8" format.
5687 When "UTF-8" strings are added to Spreadsheet::WriteExcel's internal
5689 data it causes the generated Excel file to become corrupt.
5690 Note, this doesn't affect perl 5.005 (which doesn't try to handle
5692 "UTF-8") or 5.8 (which handles it correctly).
5693 To avoid this problem you should upgrade to perl 5.8, if possible, or
5695 else you should convert the output data from XML::Parser to ASCII or
5696 ISO-8859-1 using one of the following methods:
5697 $new_str = pack 'C*', unpack 'U*', $utf8_str;
5699 use Unicode::MapUTF8 'from_utf8';
5702 $new_str = from_utf8({-str => $utf8_str, -charset => 'ISO-8859-1'});
5703
5705 If you have Office Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed you may see the
5706 following warning when you open a file created by
5707 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel:
5708 "File Error: data may have been lost".
5710 This is usually caused by multiple instances of data in a cell.
5712 SP3 changed Excel's default behaviour when it encounters multiple data
5714 in a cell so that it issues a warning when the file is opened and it
5715 displays the first data that was written. Prior to SP3 it didn't issue
5716 a warning and displayed the last data written.
5717 For a longer discussion and some workarounds see the following:
5719 http://groups.google.com/group/spreadsheet-writeexcel/browse_thread/thread/3dcea40e6620af3a
5720 <http://groups.google.com/group/spreadsheet-
5721 writeexcel/browse_thread/thread/3dcea40e6620af3a>.
5722
5724 Formulas are formulae.
5725 XML and "UTF-8" data on perl 5.6 can cause Excel files created by
5727 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to become corrupt. See "Warning about
5728 XML::Parser and perl 5.6" for further details.
5729 The format object that is used with a "merge_range()" method call is
5731 marked internally as being associated with a merged range. It is a
5732 fatal error to use a merged format in a non-merged cell. The current
5733 workaround is to use separate formats for merged and non-merged cell.
5734 This restriction will be removed in a future release.
5735 Nested formulas sometimes aren't parsed correctly and give a result of
5737 "#VALUE". If you come across a formula that parses like this, let me
5738 know.
5739 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel: All formulas created by
5741 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel are read as having a value of zero. This is
5742 because Spreadsheet::WriteExcel only stores the formula and not the
5743 calculated result.
5744 OpenOffice.org: No known issues in this release.
5746 Gnumeric: No known issues in this release.
5748 If you wish to submit a bug report run the "bug_report.pl" program in
5750 the "examples" directory of the distro.
5751
5753 The roadmap is as follows:
5754 · Enhance named ranges.
5756 Also, here are some of the most requested features that probably won't
5758 get added:
5759 · Macros.
5761 This would solve some other problems neatly. However, the format of
5763 Excel macros isn't documented.
5764 · Some feature that you really need. ;-)
5766 If there is some feature of an Excel file that you really, really need
5768 then you should use Win32::OLE with Excel on Windows. If you are on
5769 Unix you could consider connecting to a Windows server via Docserver or
5770 SOAP, see "WRITING EXCEL FILES".
5771
5773 The Spreadsheet::WriteExcel source code in host on github:
5774 http://github.com/jmcnamara/spreadsheet-writeexcel
5775 <http://github.com/jmcnamara/spreadsheet-writeexcel>.
5776
5778 There is a Google group for discussing and asking questions about
5779 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. This is a good place to search to see if your
5780 question has been asked before:
5781 http://groups.google.com/group/spreadsheet-writeexcel
5782 <http://groups.google.com/group/spreadsheet-writeexcel>.
5783 Alternatively you can keep up to date with future releases by
5785 subscribing at: <http://freshmeat.net/projects/writeexcel/>.
5786
5788 If you'd care to donate to the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel project, you can
5789 do so via PayPal: <http://tinyurl.com/7ayes>.
5790
5792 Spreadsheet::ParseExcel:
5793 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel
5794 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-ParseExcel>.
5795 Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromXML:
5797 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromXML
5798 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromXML>.
5799 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel::FromDB:
5801 http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromDB
5802 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Spreadsheet-WriteExcel-FromDB>.
5803 Excel::Template: http://search.cpan.org/~rkinyon/Excel-Template/
5805 <http://search.cpan.org/~rkinyon/Excel-Template/>.
5806 DateTime::Format::Excel:
5808 http://search.cpan.org/dist/DateTime-Format-Excel
5809 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/DateTime-Format-Excel>.
5810 "Reading and writing Excel files with Perl" by Teodor Zlatanov, at IBM
5812 developerWorks: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-pexcel/
5813 <http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-pexcel/>.
5814 "Excel-Dateien mit Perl erstellen - Controller im Gluck" by Peter
5816 Dintelmann and Christian Kirsch in the German Unix/web journal iX:
5817 <http://www.heise.de/ix/artikel/2001/06/175/>.
5818 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel documentation in Japanese by Takanori Kawai.
5820 <http://member.nifty.ne.jp/hippo2000/perltips/Spreadsheet/WriteExcel.htm>.
5821 Oesterly user brushes with fame:
5823 <http://oesterly.com/releases/12102000.html>.
5824 The csv2xls program that is part of Text::CSV_XS:
5826 http://search.cpan.org/~hmbrand/Text-CSV_XS/MANIFEST
5827 <http://search.cpan.org/~hmbrand/Text-CSV_XS/MANIFEST>.
5828
5830 The following people contributed to the debugging and testing of
5831 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel:
5832 Alexander Farber, Andre de Bruin, Arthur@ais, Artur Silveira da Cunha,
5834 Bob Rose, Borgar Olsen, Brian Foley, Brian White, Bob Mackay, Cedric
5835 Bouvier, Chad Johnson, CPAN testers, Damyan Ivanov, Daniel Berger,
5836 Daniel Gardner, Dmitry Kochurov, Eric Frazier, Ernesto Baschny, Felipe
5837 Perez Galiana, Gordon Simpson, Hanc Pavel, Harold Bamford, James
5838 Holmes, James Wilkinson, Johan Ekenberg, Johann Hanne, Jonathan Scott
5839 Duff, J.C. Wren, Kenneth Stacey, Keith Miller, Kyle Krom, Marc
5840 Rosenthal, Markus Schmitz, Michael Braig, Michael Buschauer, Mike
5841 Blazer, Michael Erickson, Michael W J West, Ning Xie, Paul J. Falbe,
5842 Paul Medynski, Peter Dintelmann, Pierre Laplante, Praveen Kotha, Reto
5843 Badertscher, Rich Sorden, Shane Ashby, Sharron McKenzie, Shenyu Zheng,
5844 Stephan Loescher, Steve Sapovits, Sven Passig, Svetoslav Marinov, Tamas
5845 Gulacsi, Troy Daniels, Vahe Sarkissian.
5846 The following people contributed patches, examples or Excel
5848 information:
5849 Andrew Benham, Bill Young, Cedric Bouvier, Charles Wybble, Daniel
5851 Rentz, David Robins, Franco Venturi, Guy Albertelli, Ian Penman, John
5852 Heitmann, Jon Guy, Kyle R. Burton, Pierre-Jean Vouette, Rubio, Marco
5853 Geri, Mark Fowler, Matisse Enzer, Sam Kington, Takanori Kawai, Tom
5854 O'Sullivan.
5855 Many thanks to Ron McKelvey, Ronzo Consulting for Siemens, who
5857 sponsored the development of the formula caching routines.
5858 Many thanks to Cassens Transport who sponsored the development of the
5860 embedded charts and autofilters.
5861 Additional thanks to Takanori Kawai for translating the documentation
5863 into Japanese.
5864 Gunnar Wolf maintains the Debian distro.
5866 Thanks to Damian Conway for the excellent Parse::RecDescent.
5868 Thanks to Tim Jenness for File::Temp.
5870 Thanks to Michael Meeks and Jody Goldberg for their work on Gnumeric.
5872
5874 Because this software is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty
5875 for the software, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except
5876 when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other
5877 parties provide the software "as is" without warranty of any kind,
5878 either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
5879 warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The
5880 entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with
5881 you. Should the software prove defective, you assume the cost of all
5882 necessary servicing, repair, or correction.
5883 In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing
5885 will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or
5886 redistribute the software as permitted by the above licence, be liable
5887 to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental, or
5888 consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the
5889 software (including but not limited to loss of data or data being
5890 rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a
5891 failure of the software to operate with any other software), even if
5892 such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such
5893 damages.
5894
5896 Either the Perl Artistic Licence
5897 <http://dev.perl.org/licenses/artistic.html> or the GPL
5898 http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php
5899 <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php>.
5900
5902 John McNamara jmcnamara@cpan.org
5903 Another day in June, we'll pick eleven for football
5905 (Pick eleven for football)
5906 We're playing for our lives the referee gives us fuck all
5907 (Ref you're giving us fuck all)
5908 I saw you with the corner of my eye on the sidelines
5909 Your dark mascara bids me to historical deeds
5910 -- Belle and Sebastian
5912
5914 Copyright MM-MMX, John McNamara.
5915 All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used,
5917 redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.
5918perl v5.12.0 2010-01-21 Spreadsheet::WriteExcel(3)