Overview
PhpSpreadsheet provides readers for various spreadsheet formats. Each reader implements the IReader interface and supports different features and options.
Reader Comparison
| Format | Class | Read Data Only | Charts | Empty Cells | Filters | Sheets |
|---|
| Xlsx | Reader\Xlsx | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xls | Reader\Xls | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xml | Reader\Xml | - | - | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ods | Reader\Ods | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slk | Reader\Slk | - | - | - | - | - |
| Gnumeric | Reader\Gnumeric | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| Html | Reader\Html | - | - | - | - | - |
| Csv | Reader\Csv | - | - | - | ✓ | - |
Xlsx Reader
Format: Office Open XML Spreadsheet (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xlsx
The most fully-featured reader supporting modern Excel files.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xlsx;
$reader = new Xlsx();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('document.xlsx');
Features
- Full formatting support (fonts, colors, borders, fills)
- Formula preservation
- Charts (when explicitly enabled)
- Data validation
- Conditional formatting
- Images and drawings
- Hyperlinks
- Page setup and print settings
- Multiple worksheets
- Named ranges
- Cell comments
- Merged cells
Xlsx Options
$reader = new Xlsx();
// Read data only, ignore formatting
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);
// Load specific sheets
$reader->setLoadSheetsOnly(['Sheet1', 'Summary']);
// Include charts
$reader->setIncludeCharts(true);
// Ignore empty cells
$reader->setReadEmptyCells(false);
// Ignore rows with no cells
$reader->setIgnoreRowsWithNoCells(true);
// Use read filter for specific ranges
$reader->setReadFilter($myFilter);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('document.xlsx');
Supported Extensions
.xlsx - Excel Workbook.xlsm - Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (macros are discarded).xltx - Excel Template.xltm - Excel Macro-Enabled Template (macros are discarded)
Xls Reader
Format: Excel Binary File Format (.xls, .xlt)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xls
Reads legacy Excel files (Excel 95 through 2003).
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xls;
$reader = new Xls();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('legacy.xls');
Features
- Supports BIFF5 through BIFF8 formats
- Cell data and formulas
- Basic formatting (fonts, colors, borders)
- Multiple worksheets
- Named ranges
- Cell comments
- Merged cells
Limitations
- No chart support
- Limited styling compared to Xlsx
- Cannot read files older than Excel 95 (BIFF4 and earlier)
Xls Options
$reader = new Xls();
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);
$reader->setLoadSheetsOnly('DataSheet');
$reader->setReadFilter($filter);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('legacy.xls');
Xml Reader
Format: Excel 2003 XML SpreadsheetML (.xml)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xml
Reads Excel 2003 XML format files.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xml;
$reader = new Xml();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('spreadsheet.xml');
Features
- Cell data and formulas
- Basic formatting
- Multiple worksheets
- Merged cells
Limitations
- Limited feature set
- No data validation support
- No conditional formatting
- Not widely used format
Ods Reader
Format: OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods, .ots)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Ods
Reads OpenOffice and LibreOffice Calc files.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Ods;
$reader = new Ods();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('document.ods');
Features
- Cell data and formulas
- Text formatting (fonts, colors)
- Cell styles
- Multiple worksheets
- Merged cells
- Page setup
Ods Options
$reader = new Ods();
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);
$reader->setLoadSheetsOnly(['Sheet1']);
$reader->setReadFilter($filter);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('document.ods');
Slk Reader
Format: Symbolic Link (.slk)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Slk
Reads Microsoft Multiplan SYLK format files.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Slk;
$reader = new Slk();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.slk');
Features
- Basic cell data
- Simple number formatting
- Single worksheet only
Limitations
- Very limited format
- Single sheet per file
- Minimal styling support
- No read filter support
- Rarely used today
Gnumeric Reader
Format: Gnumeric Spreadsheet (.gnumeric)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Gnumeric
Reads Gnome Gnumeric spreadsheet files.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Gnumeric;
$reader = new Gnumeric();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('spreadsheet.gnumeric');
Features
- Cell data and formulas
- Text formatting
- Multiple worksheets
- Merged cells
- Can identify dates even in data-only mode
Gnumeric Options
$reader = new Gnumeric();
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);
$reader->setLoadSheetsOnly(['Sheet1']);
$reader->setReadFilter($filter);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('spreadsheet.gnumeric');
Html Reader
Format: HTML (.html, .htm)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Html
The HTML reader is experimental and has limitations with complex HTML structures.
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Html;
$reader = new Html();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('table.html');
Load from String
$htmlString = '<table><tr><td>Hello</td><td>World</td></tr></table>';
$reader = new Html();
$spreadsheet = $reader->loadFromString($htmlString);
Load Multiple Tables
$reader = new Html();
// Load first table
$spreadsheet = $reader->loadFromString($firstHtmlString);
// Load second table into sheet 2
$reader->setSheetIndex(1);
$spreadsheet = $reader->loadFromString($secondHtmlString, $spreadsheet);
Limitations
- Does not handle merged cells cleanly
- No support for nested tables
- Limited CSS parsing
- Basic HTML only
- Supported charsets: ASCII, UTF-8/16 with BOM
Csv Reader
Format: Comma Separated Values (.csv)
Class: PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Csv
Basic Usage
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Csv;
$reader = new Csv();
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.csv');
CSV Options
$reader = new Csv();
// Set delimiter (auto-detected by default)
$reader->setDelimiter(';');
// Set enclosure
$reader->setEnclosure('"');
// Set input encoding
$reader->setInputEncoding('UTF-8');
// Or guess encoding
$reader->setInputEncoding(Csv::GUESS_ENCODING);
$reader->setFallbackEncoding('ISO-8859-2');
// Set escape character
$reader->setEscapeCharacter('');
// Preserve null strings
$reader->setPreserveNullString(true);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.csv');
Load from String
$csvData = "Name,Age,City\nJohn,30,NYC\nJane,25,LA";
$reader = new Csv();
$spreadsheet = $reader->loadSpreadsheetFromString($csvData);
Guess Encoding
$encoding = Csv::guessEncoding('data.csv');
// or
$encoding = Csv::guessEncoding('data.csv', 'ISO-8859-2');
$reader = new Csv();
$reader->setInputEncoding($encoding);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.csv');
Constructor Callback
Set default options for all CSV readers:
function csvDefaults(Csv $reader): void
{
$reader->setInputEncoding(Csv::GUESS_ENCODING);
$reader->setFallbackEncoding('ISO-8859-2');
$reader->setDelimiter(',');
$reader->setEnclosure('"');
$reader->setEscapeCharacter('');
}
Csv::setConstructorCallback('csvDefaults');
// All new CSV readers will use these defaults
$spreadsheet = IOFactory::load('data.csv');
$reader = new Csv();
// Convert formatted numbers like "1,234.56" to numbers
$reader->castFormattedNumberToNumeric(true);
// Also preserve formatting as number format mask
$reader->castFormattedNumberToNumeric(true, true);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('numbers.csv');
Load into Existing Spreadsheet
$reader = new Csv();
$reader->setSheetIndex(2); // Load into sheet 3
$reader->loadIntoExisting('data.csv', $existingSpreadsheet);
Contiguous Mode
When using filters, load cells contiguously from A1:
$reader = new Csv();
$reader->setReadFilter($filter);
$reader->setContiguous(true);
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.csv');
Common Reader Methods
All readers implement these methods from IReader:
// Check if reader can read file
$canRead = $reader->canRead('file.xlsx');
// Set/get read data only
$reader->setReadDataOnly(true);
$isDataOnly = $reader->getReadDataOnly();
// Set/get read empty cells
$reader->setReadEmptyCells(false);
$readEmpty = $reader->getReadEmptyCells();
// Set/get include charts
$reader->setIncludeCharts(true);
$includeCharts = $reader->getIncludeCharts();
// Load sheets
$reader->setLoadSheetsOnly(['Sheet1', 'Sheet2']);
$reader->setLoadAllSheets();
$sheets = $reader->getLoadSheetsOnly();
// Read filter
$reader->setReadFilter($filter);
$filter = $reader->getReadFilter();
// Load file
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('file.xlsx');
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('file.xlsx', $flags);
// Helper methods
$worksheetNames = $reader->listWorksheetNames('file.xlsx');
$worksheetInfo = $reader->listWorksheetInfo('file.xlsx');
Using Value Binders
For CSV, HTML, and SYLK files, use the Advanced Value Binder to automatically detect data types:
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\AdvancedValueBinder;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Csv;
$reader = new Csv();
$reader->setDelimiter("\t");
// Set value binder to detect dates, booleans, percentages, etc.
$reader::setValueBinder(new AdvancedValueBinder());
$spreadsheet = $reader->load('data.csv');
- Boolean values (true/false)
- Dates and times
- Percentages
- Scientific notation
- Hyperlinks
Best Practices
Choose the Right Reader
- Use Xlsx for modern Excel files with full feature support
- Use Xls for legacy Excel files (pre-2007)
- Use Csv for simple data import/export
- Use Ods for OpenOffice/LibreOffice compatibility
Performance
- Always use
setReadDataOnly(true) if you don’t need formatting
- Use
setReadEmptyCells(false) for large files with many empty cells
- Implement read filters for very large files
- Use
setLoadSheetsOnly() to load only required sheets
Security
- Be cautious with user-uploaded files
- XXE protection is automatic for XML-based formats
- Validate file types before processing
- Consider file size limits
