Convert XLS to CSV on command line

Question

How could I convert an XLS file to a CSV file on the windows command line.

The machine has Microsoft Office 2000 installed. I\'m open to installing OpenOffice if it\

Answer 1

Here is a version that will handle multiple files drag and dropped from windows. Based on the above works by

Christian Lemer
plang
ScottF

Open Notepad, create a file called XlsToCsv.vbs and paste this in:

'* Usage: Drop .xl* files on me to export each sheet as CSV

'* Global Settings and Variables
Dim gSkip
Set args = Wscript.Arguments

For Each sFilename In args
    iErr = ExportExcelFileToCSV(sFilename)
    ' 0 for normal success
    ' 404 for file not found
    ' 10 for file skipped (or user abort if script returns 10)
Next

WScript.Quit(0)

Function ExportExcelFileToCSV(sFilename)
    '* Settings
    Dim oExcel, oFSO, oExcelFile
    Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
    Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    iCSV_Format = 6

    '* Set Up
    sExtension = oFSO.GetExtensionName(sFilename)
    if sExtension = "" then
        ExportExcelFileToCSV = 404
        Exit Function
    end if
    sTest = Mid(sExtension,1,2) '* first 2 letters of the extension, vb's missing a Like operator
    if not (sTest =  "xl") then
        if (PromptForSkip(sFilename,oExcel)) then
            ExportExcelFileToCSV = 10
            Exit Function
        end if
    End If
    sAbsoluteSource = oFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(sFilename)
    sAbsoluteDestination = Replace(sAbsoluteSource,sExtension,"{sheet}.csv")

    '* Do Work
    Set oExcelFile = oExcel.Workbooks.Open(sAbsoluteSource)
    For Each oSheet in oExcelFile.Sheets
        sThisDestination = Replace(sAbsoluteDestination,"{sheet}",oSheet.Name)
        oExcelFile.Sheets(oSheet.Name).Select
        oExcelFile.SaveAs sThisDestination, iCSV_Format
    Next

    '* Take Down
    oExcelFile.Close False
    oExcel.Quit

    ExportExcelFileToCSV = 0
    Exit Function
End Function

Function PromptForSkip(sFilename,oExcel)
    if not (VarType(gSkip) = vbEmpty) then
        PromptForSkip = gSkip
        Exit Function
    end if

    Dim oFSO
    Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    sPrompt = vbCRLF & _
        "A filename was received that doesn't appear to be an Excel Document." & vbCRLF & _
        "Do you want to skip this and all other unrecognized files?  (Will only prompt this once)" & vbCRLF & _
        "" & vbCRLF & _
        "Yes    - Will skip all further files that don't have a .xl* extension" & vbCRLF & _
        "No     - Will pass the file to excel regardless of extension" & vbCRLF & _
        "Cancel - Abort any further conversions and exit this script" & vbCRLF & _
        "" & vbCRLF & _
        "The unrecognized file was:" & vbCRLF & _
        sFilename & vbCRLF & _
        "" & vbCRLF & _
        "The path returned by the system was:" & vbCRLF & _
        oFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(sFilename) & vbCRLF

    sTitle = "Unrecognized File Type Encountered"

    sResponse =  MsgBox (sPrompt,vbYesNoCancel,sTitle)
    Select Case sResponse
    Case vbYes
        gSkip = True
    Case vbNo
        gSkip = False
    Case vbCancel
        oExcel.Quit
        WScript.Quit(10)    '*  10 Is the error code I use to indicate there was a user abort (1 because wasn't successful, + 0 because the user chose to exit)
    End Select

    PromptForSkip = gSkip
    Exit Function
End Function

Answer 2

Scott F's answer is the best I have found on the internet. I did add on to his code to meet my needs. I added:

On Error Resume Next <- To account for a missing xls files in my batch processing at the top. oBook.Application.Columns("A:J").NumberFormat = "@" <- Before the SaveAs line to make sure my data is saved formatted as text to keep excel from deleting leading zero's and eliminating commas in number strings in my data i.e. (1,200 to 1200). The column range should be adjusted to meet your neeeds (A:J).

I also removed the Echo "done" to make it non interactive.

I then added the script into a cmd batch file for processing automated data on an hourly basis via a task.

Answer 3

You can do it with Alacon - command-line utility for Alasql database. It works with Node.js, so you need to install Node.js and then Alasql package.

To convert Excel file to CVS (ot TSV) you can enter:

> node alacon "SELECT * INTO CSV('mydata.csv', {headers:true}) FROM XLS('mydata.xls', {headers:true})"

By default Alasql converts data from "Sheet1", but you can change it with parameters:

{headers:false, sheetid: 'Sheet2', range: 'A1:C100'}

Alacon supports other type of conversions (CSV, TSV, TXT, XLSX, XLS) and SQL language constructions (see User Manual for examples).