How can I read .xlsx and .xls files in Java?

Question

hi i want to read xlsx file or xls file what ever it is. can XSSF support xls file ? or do i need to write the separate code for both kind of files ?

Solution 1

Yes, you can use Apache POI to read and write xlsx and xls files.

Solution 2

If you want your code to work for both, you'll have to use the org.apache.poi.ss package. This package has been created to unify XSSF and HSSF.

Solution 3

For one of my projects I have created a basic utility that uses Apache POI and OpenCSV and can read both xlsx, xls and csv files.

Given a converter it can convert rows to objects, like this:

RowConverter<Country> converter = (row) -> new Country(row[0], row[1]);

ExcelReader<Country> reader = ExcelReader.builder(Country.class)
     .converter(converter)
     .withHeader()
     .csvDelimiter(';')
     .sheets(1)
     .build();

List<Country> list;
list = reader.read("CountryCodes.xlsx");
list = reader.read("CountryCodes.xls");
list = reader.read("CountryCodes.csv");

You may find the project on github.

Comments

[Srinivas]

thank you for the reply,yes i want to write a code that should work for both xlsx ans xls.can you please give me sample code

[Srinivas]

org.apache.poi.ss is working for both kind of files thank you very much

[Valentin Rocher]

@Srinivas : if your problem is solved, please mark this question as answered (the little green thing just left of my answer)

[EpicPandaForce]

No need for all that, just use WorkbookFactory.createWorkbook(InputStream)

[Annivey]

You need to add (if you use maven) this dependency: <dependency> <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId> <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId> <version>3.17</version> </dependency> or find necessary jar-file