2017-03-20 09:02:25 +00:00
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## File Formats
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Despite the library name `xlsx`, it supports numerous spreadsheet file formats:
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| Format | Read | Write |
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|:-------------------------------------------------------------|:-----:|:-----:|
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| **Excel Worksheet/Workbook Formats** |:-----:|:-----:|
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| Excel 2007+ XML Formats (XLSX/XLSM) | :o: | :o: |
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| Excel 2007+ Binary Format (XLSB BIFF12) | :o: | :o: |
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| Excel 2003-2004 XML Format (XML "SpreadsheetML") | :o: | :o: |
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| Excel 97-2004 (XLS BIFF8) | :o: | |
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| Excel 5.0/95 (XLS BIFF5) | :o: | |
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| Excel 4.0 (XLS/XLW BIFF4) | :o: | |
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| Excel 3.0 (XLS BIFF3) | :o: | |
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| Excel 2.0/2.1 (XLS BIFF2) | :o: | :o: |
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| **Excel Supported Text Formats** |:-----:|:-----:|
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| Delimiter-Separated Values (CSV/TSV/DSV) | | :o: |
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| **Other Workbook/Worksheet Formats** |:-----:|:-----:|
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| OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) | :o: | :o: |
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| Flat XML ODF Spreadsheet (FODS) | :o: | :o: |
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| Uniform Office Format Spreadsheet (标文通 UOS1/UOS2) | :o: | |
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2017-03-28 04:41:01 +00:00
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| dBASE II/III/IV / Visual FoxPro (DBF) | :o: | |
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2017-03-20 09:02:25 +00:00
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| **Other Common Spreadsheet Output Formats** |:-----:|:-----:|
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| HTML Tables | :o: | |
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### Excel 2007+ XML (XLSX/XLSM)
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XLSX and XLSM files are ZIP containers containing a series of XML files in
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accordance with the Open Packaging Conventions (OPC). The XLSM filetype, almost
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identical to XLSX, is used for files containing macros.
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The format is standardized in ECMA-376 and later in ISO/IEC 29500. Excel does
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not follow the specification, and there are additional documents discussing how
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Excel deviates from the specification.
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### Excel 2.0-95 (BIFF2/BIFF3/BIFF4/BIFF5)
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BIFF 2/3 XLS are single-sheet streams of binary records. Excel 4 introduced
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the concept of a workbook (`XLW` files) but also had single-sheet `XLS` format.
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The structure is largely similar to the Lotus 1-2-3 file formats. BIFF5/8/12
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extended the format in various ways but largely stuck to the same record format.
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There is no official specification for any of these formats. Excel 95 can write
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files in these formats, so record lengths and fields were backsolved by writing
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in all of the supported formats and comparing files. Excel 2016 can generate
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BIFF5 files, enabling a full suite of file tests starting from XLSX or BIFF2.
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### Excel 97-2004 Binary (BIFF8)
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BIFF8 exclusively uses the Compound File Binary container format, splitting some
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content into streams within the file. At its core, it still uses an extended
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version of the binary record format from older versions of BIFF.
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The `MS-XLS` specification covers the basics of the file format, and other
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specifications expand on serialization of features like properties.
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### Excel 2003-2004 (SpreadsheetML)
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Predating XLSX, SpreadsheetML files are simple XML files. There is no official
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and comprehensive specification, although MS has released whitepapers on the
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format. Since Excel 2016 can generate SpreadsheetML files, backsolving is
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pretty straightforward.
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### Excel 2007+ Binary (XLSB, BIFF12)
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Introduced in parallel with XLSX, the XLSB filetype combines BIFF architecture
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with the content separation and ZIP container of XLSX. For the most part nodes
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in an XLSX sub-file can be mapped to XLSB records in a corresponding sub-file.
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The `MS-XLSB` specification covers the basics of the file format, and other
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specifications expand on serialization of features like properties.
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### OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS/FODS) and Uniform Office Spreadsheet (UOS1/2)
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ODS is an XML-in-ZIP format akin to XLSX while FODS is an XML format akin to
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SpreadsheetML. Both are detailed in the OASIS standard, but tools like LO/OO
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add undocumented extensions.
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UOS is a very similar format, and it comes in 2 varieties corresponding to ODS
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and FODS respectively. For the most part, the difference between the formats
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lies in the names of tags and attributes.
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2017-03-28 04:41:01 +00:00
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### dBASE and Visual FoxPro (DBF)
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DBF is really a typed table format: each column can only hold one data type and
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each record omits type information. The parser generates a header row and
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inserts records starting at the second row of the worksheet.
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Multi-file extensions like external memos and tables are currently unsupported,
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limited by the general ability to read arbitrary files in the web browser.
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2017-03-20 09:02:25 +00:00
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### Comma-Separated Values
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Excel CSV deviates from RFC4180 in a number of important ways. The generated
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CSV files should generally work in Excel although they may not work in RFC4180
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compatible readers.
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### HTML
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Excel HTML worksheets include special metadata encoded in styles. For example,
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`mso-number-format` is a localized string containing the number format. Despite
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the metadata the output is valid HTML, although it does accept bare `&` symbols.
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