xls2csv(1)                                                          xls2csv(1)

NAME
       xls2csv  -  reads MS-Excel file and puts its content as comma-separated
       data on standard output

SYNOPSIS
       xls2csv [-xlV] [-f  format ] [-b  string ] [-s  charset ] [-d   charset
       ] [-q  number ] [-c  char] files

DESCRIPTION
       xls2csv reads MS-Excel spreadsheet and dumps its content as comma-sepaâ
       rated values to stdout. Numbers are printed without delimiters, strings
       are enclosed in the double quotes. Double-quotes inside string are douâ
       bled.

OPTIONS
       -x      print unknown Unicode chars as \xNNNN, rather than as  question
               marks

       -l      list known charsets and exit successfully

       -cchar  cell separator char. By default - comma.
 Manual page xls2csv(1) line 1

NG:~# xls2csv

xls2csv - Recode a spreadsheet's charset and save as CSV.

usage: xls2csv -x spreadsheet.xls [-w worksheet] [-b charset] [-c csvfile.csv] [-a charset] [-qshvW]

-x  : filename of the source spreadsheet
-b  : the character set the source spreadsheet is in (before)
-c  : the filename to save the generated csv file as
-a  : the character set the csv file should be converted to (after)
-q  : quiet mode
-s  : print a list of supported character sets
-h  : this help message
-v  : get version information
-W  : list worksheets in the spreadsheet specified by -x
-w  : specify the worksheet name to convert (defaults to the first worksheet)

example: xls2csv -x "spreadsheet.xls" -b WINDOWS-1252 -c "csvfile.csv" -a UTF-8

More detailed help is in "perldoc xls2csv"

NG:~/downloads# xls2csv -x "test.xls" -w "Sheet1" -c "test.csv" -cchar "~"
Now reading "test.xls" as UTF-8.
Converting the "Sheet1" worksheet.
The spreadsheet has been converted to UTF-8 and saved as "char".

#!/usr/bin/perl 
use strict;
use warnings;

#  Declarations
#===========================================================
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

#  Program proper
#===========================================================

my $file_name = shift || usage();

parse_excel($file_name);

exit 0;

#  Subroutines
#===========================================================
sub parse_excel {

    my %arg = ( record_sep => "\n",
                field_sep  => "\t",
                xls        => undef );

    if ( @_ == 1 ) {
        $arg{xls} = shift;
    } elsif ( not @_ % 2 ) {
        %arg = ( %arg, @_ );
    }

    -e $arg{xls} or 
        die "Must provide valid XLS file! $arg{xls}, $!\n";

    # create a ParseExcel object
    my $excel_obj = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel->new();

    my $workbook = $excel_obj->Parse($arg{xls});

    # make sure we're in business
    die "Workbook did not return worksheets!\n"
        unless ref $workbook->{Worksheet} eq 'ARRAY';

    # we need to get each worksheet from the workbook in turn

    for my $worksheet ( @{$workbook->{Worksheet}} ) {

    # {Cells}[row][col]
    # empty worksheets have undef for MaxCol and MaxRow
        my $last_col = $worksheet->{MaxCol} || 0;
        my $last_row = $worksheet->{MaxRow} || 0;

        for my $row ( 0 .. $last_row ) {

            for my $col ( 0 .. $last_col ) {

                my $cell = $worksheet->{Cells}[$row][$col];

                print ref $cell ?
                    $cell->Value : '';

                print $arg{field_sep} unless $col == $last_col;
            }
            print $arg{record_sep}; # record ends
        }
        print "\n"; # worksheet ends
    }
}
#===========================================================
sub usage {

    my ( $tool ) = $0 =~ m,([^\/]+$),;

    print <<HERE;
------------------------------------------------------------
USAGE:

   $tool EXCEL_FILE.xls [field_delim] [record_delim]

Takes an Excel file, parses it into plain text delimited 
fields and rows, and sends the results to STDOUT. The default 
field and record delimiters are "\\t" and "\\n" if neither 
is given.
------------------------------------------------------------
HERE
    exit 0;
}
#===========================================================