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Home » How do I » How to convert XLS file into CSV file in C#

How to convert XLS file into CSV file in C#


The article shows you a simple way to convert an XLS file into a CSV file by using a small C# program

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XlsToCsv.zip
 
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Introduction

The C# program is small and simple as follows. You can test it by giving an input Excel XLS file (source.xls). The program will convert the XLS file into a CSV file named "target.csv".

The program was compiled by VS2005.

using System;

using System.IO;

using System.Data;

using System.Data.OleDb;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

 

namespace XlsToCsv

{

    class Program

    {

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            string sourceFile, worksheetName, targetFile;

            sourceFile = "source.xls"; worksheetName = "sheet1"; targetFile = "target.csv"; 

            convertExcelToCSV(sourceFile, worksheetName, targetFile);

        }
 

        static void convertExcelToCSV(string sourceFile, string worksheetName, string targetFile)

        {

            string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + sourceFile + ";Extended Properties=\" Excel.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1\""; 

            OleDbConnection conn = null;

            StreamWriter wrtr = null;

            OleDbCommand cmd = null;

            OleDbDataAdapter da = null; 

            try

            {

                conn = new OleDbConnection(strConn);

                conn.Open();

 

                cmd = new OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM [" + worksheetName + "$]", conn);

                cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;

                wrtr = new StreamWriter(targetFile);

 

                da = new OleDbDataAdapter(cmd);

                DataTable dt = new DataTable();

                da.Fill(dt);

 

                for (int x = 0; x < dt.Rows.Count; x++)

                {

                    string rowString = "";

                    for (int y = 0; y < dt.Columns.Count; y++)

                    {

                        rowString += "\"" + dt.Rows[x][y].ToString() + "\",";

                    }

                    wrtr.WriteLine(rowString);

                }

                Console.WriteLine();

                Console.WriteLine("Done! Your " + sourceFile + " has been converted into " + targetFile + ".");

                Console.WriteLine();

            }

            catch (Exception exc)

            {

                Console.WriteLine(exc.ToString());

                Console.ReadLine();

            }

            finally

            {

                if (conn.State == ConnectionState.Open)

                conn.Close();

                conn.Dispose();

                cmd.Dispose();

                da.Dispose();

                wrtr.Close();

                wrtr.Dispose();

            }

        }

    }
}


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 About the author
 
Yuan Wang
Yuan is working in an IT firm of Northern VA. He has over 10 years experience in mathematical modeling, parallel computing, and programming. He is currently working with Java, C++ and .NET mostly for modeling, simulation, and web application development with SQL Server and Oracle. In his past life, Yuan's Ph.D research was focused on Applied Probabilistic Models, Operations Research and Parellel Computing.
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 Comments
OleDb by Filip On March 25, 2008
I would just like to inform you that you can use DotNet Excel Component For Reading/Writing XLS/CSV/HTML/XLSX Files to convert XLS to CSV. We even have a Free .NET component that you can use in your commercial applications.
Reply | Email | Delete | Modify | 
Could not find installable ISAM .. what I have to do.. by kota On March 26, 2008
Hi, I verified with connection string and extended propertie. I a, using office 2003 so I tried with 11.0 object library .. its also not working. And next i reinstalled the driver. But I didnt fine the correct solution. Help me regarding this. ~ Subrahmanyam, CMC Ltd, HYD.
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How to Convert .Xls into .csv in C# in window application Demo? by Maurvi On February 26, 2010
can you please give me a demo window application for convert .xls into .csv in asp.net 3.5(C#)?
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How to Convert .Xls into .csv in C# in window application Demo? by Maurvi On February 26, 2010
please give me demo window application with forms.

Regards,
Maurvi
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correction to code by Kenneth On April 17, 2010
Hi,

Your code did not work for me until I changed this:
string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + sourceFile + ";Extended Properties=\" Excel.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1\"";

to this:
string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + sourceFile + ";Extended Properties=\"Excel 8.0;\"";

Thanks for the idea though:)
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how to do the samething with XLSX to CSV by QAtester On May 22, 2010
can somebody please tell what need to be changed to convert  xlsx to CSV.

thanks
vd484
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how to do the samething with XLSX to CSV by QAtester On May 22, 2010
can somebody please tell what need to be changed to convert  xlsx to CSV.

thanks
vd484
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Supporting .xlsx by Anthony On August 18, 2010
For anyone who wants to know, to work with .xlsx files change the connection string to

string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + sourceFile + ";Extended Properties=\"Excel 12.0;\"";

Notice that I have removed the HDR=Yes part of the extended properties, this line indicates that the first row is assumed to be headers and will be left out.. if you would like to keep it that way then use

string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + sourceFile + ";Extended Properties=\"Excel 12.0;HDR=Yes\"";
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