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Reading a Spreadsheet with IOFactory

The simplest way to read a spreadsheet is using IOFactory::load(), which automatically detects the file format: 
<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileName = 'example.xlsx';

// Load the file - IOFactory automatically detects the format
$spreadsheet = IOFactory::load($inputFileName);

// Get data from the active sheet as an array
$sheetData = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()->toArray(null, true, true, true);

// Display the data
print_r($sheetData);

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What This Code Does

  1. Auto-detects format: IOFactory::load() identifies whether the file is XLSX, XLS, ODS, CSV, etc.
  2. Loads the spreadsheet: Reads the entire file into memory
  3. Converts to array: toArray() extracts all cell data as a PHP array
  4. Array format: Returns data indexed by column letters and row numbers (e.g., ['A' => [1 => 'value']])

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Reading Specific File Formats

<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xlsx;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$reader = new Xlsx();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('example.xlsx');

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Reading Only Data (No Formatting)

For better performance, you can read only the cell values without loading formatting, styles, or other metadata: 
<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileName = 'example.xlsx';

// Create reader and set to read data only
$reader = IOFactory::createReader('Xlsx');
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);

// Load the spreadsheet
$spreadsheet = $reader->load($inputFileName);

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Accessing Cell Data

Once you’ve loaded a spreadsheet, you can access cell data in multiple ways: 
<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$spreadsheet = IOFactory::load('example.xlsx');
$sheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet();

// Get a single cell value
$value = $sheet->getCell('A1')->getValue();
echo "Cell A1: " . $value . "\n";

// Get calculated value (if cell contains a formula)
$calculatedValue = $sheet->getCell('B5')->getCalculatedValue();
echo "Cell B5 calculated: " . $calculatedValue . "\n";

// Get all data as array
$allData = $sheet->toArray();

// Iterate through rows
foreach ($sheet->getRowIterator() as $row) {
    $cellIterator = $row->getCellIterator();
    $cellIterator->setIterateOnlyExistingCells(false);
    
    foreach ($cellIterator as $cell) {
        echo $cell->getCoordinate() . ": " . $cell->getValue() . "\n";
    }
}

​
Reading Multiple Worksheets

<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$spreadsheet = IOFactory::load('example.xlsx');

// Get all worksheet names
$worksheetNames = $spreadsheet->getSheetNames();

echo "Worksheets in this file:\n";
foreach ($worksheetNames as $name) {
    echo "- " . $name . "\n";
}

// Access specific worksheet by name
$sheet = $spreadsheet->getSheetByName('Sheet2');

// Or by index (0-based)
$firstSheet = $spreadsheet->getSheet(0);

// Get data from specific sheet
$sheetData = $sheet->toArray();

​
Error Handling

Always wrap file operations in try-catch blocks: 
<?php

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\IOFactory;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Exception as ReaderException;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$inputFileName = 'example.xlsx';

try {
    $spreadsheet = IOFactory::load($inputFileName);
    echo "File loaded successfully!\n";
} catch (ReaderException $e) {
    echo "Error loading file: " . $e->getMessage();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo "Unexpected error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

​
Key Takeaways

  • Use IOFactory::load() for automatic format detection
  • Use specific reader classes for better control over file loading
  • Enable setReadDataOnly(true) for faster loading when you don’t need formatting
  • Use toArray() to get all data at once or iterators for row-by-row processing
  • Always wrap file operations in try-catch blocks

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