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Converting .xlsx to .csv?

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  Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 14:48 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2015-04-11 20:04 +0000
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2015-04-11 21:16 +0100
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 18:12 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> - 2015-04-11 16:27 -0400
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 18:12 -0500
        Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2015-04-11 23:13 -0400
          Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 23:26 -0500
            Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2015-04-13 09:11 -0400
              Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-13 10:39 -0500
                Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Jeroen Belleman <jeroen@nospam.please> - 2015-04-14 08:31 +0200
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2015-04-11 14:02 -0700
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 18:12 -0500
        Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Bill Marcum <bill.marcum57@gmail.com> - 2015-04-11 21:10 -0400
          Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 20:44 -0500
          Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 20:44 -0500
            Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2015-04-12 07:38 -0500
              Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-12 09:27 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Ken Sims <ng12207@kensims.#nospam#.net.invalid> - 2015-04-11 17:29 -0700
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 20:27 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Chick Tower <c.tower@deadspam.com> - 2015-04-12 03:24 +0000
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-11 23:26 -0500
        Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Chick Tower <c.tower@deadspam.com> - 2015-04-13 00:51 +0000
          Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-12 21:15 -0500
            Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? "John F" <j@j.ii> - 2015-04-13 14:11 -0700
            Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Chick Tower <c.tower@deadspam.com> - 2015-04-14 18:30 +0000
              Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-14 14:51 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? dillinger <dillinger@invalid.not> - 2015-04-12 23:42 +0200
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-12 18:57 -0500
        Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? dillinger <dillinger@invalid.not> - 2015-04-13 18:26 +0200
          Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-13 12:09 -0500
            Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Stan Bischof <stan@worldbadminton.com> - 2015-04-17 19:38 +0000
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2015-04-12 18:57 -0500
    Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? ray carter <ray@zianet.com> - 2015-04-12 22:49 +0000
      Re: Converting .xlsx to .csv? Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2015-04-12 18:57 -0400

Page 1 of 2  [1] 2  Next page →

#14476 — Converting .xlsx to .csv?

Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?

There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
question.

*I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
just don't deal with things that way.

If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                                                                              

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#14477

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:48:50 -0500, Robert Heller wrote:
> Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?

You might want to bookmark this URL
  https://encrypted.google.com/advanced_search
and see what you can see if you put something like
  Converting .xlsx to .csv linux
in the first box.

You might see something like
About 7,370 results (0.38 seconds) 

I saw a perl script, also ssconvert just for starters.

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#14479

On 11/04/15 20:48, Robert Heller wrote:
> Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>
> There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in
> question.
>
> *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I*
> don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is
> a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really
> know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I
> just don't deal with things that way.
>
> If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on
> the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
>
It can be done for simpleish files BUT an xlsx file contains far more 
information than a CSV does.



-- 
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the 
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. – Erwin Knoll

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#14483

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:16:47 +0100 The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> 
> On 11/04/15 20:48, Robert Heller wrote:
> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
> >
> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in
> > question.
> >
> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I*
> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is
> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really
> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I
> > just don't deal with things that way.
> >
> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on
> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> >
> It can be done for simpleish files BUT an xlsx file contains far more 
> information than a CSV does.

The only files I would *every* need to convert would be simple ones.  Any xlsx 
that contains anything more than a CSV file would contain I would simply 
delete.  I don't care about formatting, just the raw (textual) data.

> 
> 
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                                                   

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#14480

Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
>
> Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>
> There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
> question.
>
> *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
> don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
> a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
> know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
> just don't deal with things that way.
>
> If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
> the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?

Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.

Anyway, if you cannot find any solution, *and* you don't want to install
LO, *and* it's only a small number of files, I can offer to do this for you.

Send me an email then.
-- 
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often as I
have to reboot my computer.

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#14484

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:

> 
> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
> >
> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
> >
> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
> > question.
> >
> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
> > just don't deal with things that way.
> >
> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> 
> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.

LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.  It *used* to be possible with older 
versions oowriter to convert a word processing file to PDF, but that is no 
longer possible.  And oowriter in CLI mode would fail to run if X11 was not 
running, since it would still try to connect to the DISPLAY, even if it never 
actually realized any windows.  I don't have (and don't want) OpenOffice, 
LibreOffice or any variation thereof.

> 
> Anyway, if you cannot find any solution, *and* you don't want to install
> LO, *and* it's only a small number of files, I can offer to do this for you.
> 
> Send me an email then.

I expect to get additional files from time to time and I'd rather do it 
myself. 


-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                  

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#14495

Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:

> At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:
>
>> 
>> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
>> >
>> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>> >
>> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
>> > question.
>> >
>> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
>> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
>> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
>> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
>> > just don't deal with things that way.
>> >
>> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
>> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
>> 
>> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
>> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
>> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.
>
> LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.

Really?

These folks seem to think it is:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/379416/saving-xls-as-csv-with-libreoffice-calc

One poster suggests:

libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir somedir *.xls

Yep, just ran a quick test, looks fine to me.

-- 
Dan Espen

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#14499

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 23:13:45 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
> 
> > At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:
> >
> >> 
> >> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
> >> >
> >> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
> >> >
> >> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
> >> > question.
> >> >
> >> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
> >> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
> >> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
> >> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
> >> > just don't deal with things that way.
> >> >
> >> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
> >> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> >> 
> >> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
> >> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
> >> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.
> >
> > LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.
> 
> Really?
> 
> These folks seem to think it is:
> 
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/379416/saving-xls-as-csv-with-libreoffice-calc
> 
> One poster suggests:
> 
> libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir somedir *.xls
> 
> Yep, just ran a quick test, looks fine to me.

It is a huge beast of a program.  Is there no small, simple utility?  I can't 
instal LibreOffice under CentOS 5 -- OpenOffice 3.1.1 is available for CentOS 
5.  Why must I install 350meg of software for such a simple operation?  Talk 
about *extreme* bloat.  It appears that OO/LO are the most bloated software 
ever. 

The --headless option does not work with OpenOffice 3.1.1 -- I have part of it 
installed on my desktop machine, where it *wastes* about 350meg of disk space 
-- I *never* use it and only have it so I can deal with occassional files 
people send me who are unable or unwilling to send as pdf or some other 
*standard* portable (and in my mind, usable) formats.

> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                                               

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#14518

Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:

> At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 23:13:45 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> 
>> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
>> 
>> > At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >> 
>> >> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
>> >> >
>> >> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>> >> >
>> >> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
>> >> > question.
>> >> >
>> >> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
>> >> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
>> >> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
>> >> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
>> >> > just don't deal with things that way.
>> >> >
>> >> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
>> >> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
>> >> 
>> >> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
>> >> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
>> >> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.
>> >
>> > LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.
>> 
>> Really?
>> 
>> These folks seem to think it is:
>> 
>> http://askubuntu.com/questions/379416/saving-xls-as-csv-with-libreoffice-calc
>> 
>> One poster suggests:
>> 
>> libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir somedir *.xls
>> 
>> Yep, just ran a quick test, looks fine to me.
>
> It is a huge beast of a program.  Is there no small, simple utility?  I can't 
> instal LibreOffice under CentOS 5 -- OpenOffice 3.1.1 is available for CentOS 
> 5.  Why must I install 350meg of software for such a simple operation?  Talk 
> about *extreme* bloat.  It appears that OO/LO are the most bloated software 
> ever. 

You don't have any idea how much of LibreOffice gets loaded into memory
to accomplish '--convert-to csv'.

> The --headless option does not work with OpenOffice 3.1.1 -- I have part of it 
> installed on my desktop machine, where it *wastes* about 350meg of disk space 
> -- I *never* use it and only have it so I can deal with occassional files 
> people send me who are unable or unwilling to send as pdf or some other 
> *standard* portable (and in my mind, usable) formats.

You don't seem to be interested in a solution unless it fits your
arbitrary criteria.

OpenOffice 3.1.1 probably has it's equivalent of "--headless".
But that's probably not small and simple either.

-- 
Dan Espen

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#14522

At Mon, 13 Apr 2015 09:11:00 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
> 
> > At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 23:13:45 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> >> 
> >> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
> >> 
> >> > At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> 
> >> >> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in 
> >> >> > question.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I* 
> >> >> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is 
> >> >> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really 
> >> >> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I 
> >> >> > just don't deal with things that way.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
> >> >> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> >> >> 
> >> >> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
> >> >> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
> >> >> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.
> >> >
> >> > LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.
> >> 
> >> Really?
> >> 
> >> These folks seem to think it is:
> >> 
> >> http://askubuntu.com/questions/379416/saving-xls-as-csv-with-libreoffice-calc
> >> 
> >> One poster suggests:
> >> 
> >> libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir somedir *.xls
> >> 
> >> Yep, just ran a quick test, looks fine to me.
> >
> > It is a huge beast of a program.  Is there no small, simple utility?  I can't 
> > instal LibreOffice under CentOS 5 -- OpenOffice 3.1.1 is available for CentOS 
> > 5.  Why must I install 350meg of software for such a simple operation?  Talk 
> > about *extreme* bloat.  It appears that OO/LO are the most bloated software 
> > ever. 
> 
> You don't have any idea how much of LibreOffice gets loaded into memory
> to accomplish '--convert-to csv'.

I don't really care about memory usage.  My *main* issue with *Office software 
is the about of *disk* space they take up.

> 
> > The --headless option does not work with OpenOffice 3.1.1 -- I have part of it 
> > installed on my desktop machine, where it *wastes* about 350meg of disk space 
> > -- I *never* use it and only have it so I can deal with occassional files 
> > people send me who are unable or unwilling to send as pdf or some other 
> > *standard* portable (and in my mind, usable) formats.
> 
> You don't seem to be interested in a solution unless it fits your
> arbitrary criteria.

Well yes.  Why should I be interested in a solution that does not fit my 
criteria?

> 
> OpenOffice 3.1.1 probably has it's equivalent of "--headless".
> But that's probably not small and simple either.


-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                            

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#14533

On 2015-04-13 17:39, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Mon, 13 Apr 2015 09:11:00 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
>>
>>> At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 23:13:45 -0400 Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:27:32 -0400 Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Robert Heller wrote on 11. April 2015:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in
>>>>>>> question.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I*
>>>>>>> don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is
>>>>>>> a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really
>>>>>>> know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I
>>>>>>> just don't deal with things that way.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on
>>>>>>> the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is xlsx somewhat like xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet format)? Although
>>>>>> LibreOffice should be able to convert it. It might be even possible to
>>>>>> run it via command line. But I never dealt with that.
>>>>>
>>>>> LibreOffice is NOT a CLI program.
>>>>
>>>> Really?
>>>>
>>>> These folks seem to think it is:
>>>>
>>>> http://askubuntu.com/questions/379416/saving-xls-as-csv-with-libreoffice-calc
>>>>
>>>> One poster suggests:
>>>>
>>>> libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir somedir *.xls
>>>>
>>>> Yep, just ran a quick test, looks fine to me.
>>>
>>> It is a huge beast of a program.  Is there no small, simple utility?  I can't
>>> instal LibreOffice under CentOS 5 -- OpenOffice 3.1.1 is available for CentOS
>>> 5.  Why must I install 350meg of software for such a simple operation?  Talk
>>> about *extreme* bloat.  It appears that OO/LO are the most bloated software
>>> ever.
>>
>> You don't have any idea how much of LibreOffice gets loaded into memory
>> to accomplish '--convert-to csv'.
>
> I don't really care about memory usage.  My *main* issue with *Office software
> is the about of *disk* space they take up.
>
>>
>>> The --headless option does not work with OpenOffice 3.1.1 -- I have part of it
>>> installed on my desktop machine, where it *wastes* about 350meg of disk space
>>> -- I *never* use it and only have it so I can deal with occassional files
>>> people send me who are unable or unwilling to send as pdf or some other
>>> *standard* portable (and in my mind, usable) formats.
>>
>> You don't seem to be interested in a solution unless it fits your
>> arbitrary criteria.
>
> Well yes.  Why should I be interested in a solution that does not fit my
> criteria?
>
>>
>> OpenOffice 3.1.1 probably has it's equivalent of "--headless".
>> But that's probably not small and simple either.
>
>

At some point I tried to create web pages from data stored as
Excel files. This never came to anything, but in the process,
I came across Perl code that included a 'tocsv.pl' program.

Google for Spreadsheet-ParseExcel. That should bring up something.

Jeroen Belleman

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#14481

On 04/11/2015 12:48 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
>
> There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in
> question.
>
> *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I*
> don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is
> a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really
> know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I
> just don't deal with things that way.
>
> If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on
> the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
>


	Which distribution are you using?

	In rational user-oriented distros there usually is a Install/Remove 
software interface somewhere in there.  It can
download the LibreOffice or OpenOffice or maybe Calliga Office
suites and install it for you.  On those that I have used
including Knoppix, Mandriva, Mageia, PCLOS and Kubuntu there
is such an interface.
	Perhaps you will have to review the documentation
on your distributions web site and ask about the program it
uses.
	On those I mentioned getting a wanted program that happens
to be in the repository is only a matter of typing the name of
the program into a requester window.  If it is not in the
repository then you have to do things with cli programs that
will get what you want from the net.

	bliss

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#14485

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:02:21 -0700 Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

> 
> On 04/11/2015 12:48 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> > Does there exist a *CLI* program to convert .xlsx files to .csv files?
> >
> > There are not any formulas or macros or anything like that in the files in
> > question.
> >
> > *I* don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed on my Linux machine.  *I*
> > don't use <mumble>Office programs.  I know I can isntall OpenOffice but it is
> > a beast that I am clueless about using, since I don't use it and don't really
> > know how to use it and have never in my 45 years of computer programming -- I
> > just don't deal with things that way.
> >
> > If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on
> > the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> >
> 
> 
> 	Which distribution are you using?

Irrelevant.

> 
> 	In rational user-oriented distros there usually is a Install/Remove 
> software interface somewhere in there.  It can
> download the LibreOffice or OpenOffice or maybe Calliga Office
> suites and install it for you.  On those that I have used
> including Knoppix, Mandriva, Mageia, PCLOS and Kubuntu there
> is such an interface.

I DON'T WANT TO INSTALL LibreOffice or OpenOffice or ANY OTHER Office -- I DO
KNOW HOW TO, BUT I DON'T WANT THAT CRAPOLA ON *MY* COMPUTERS. I HAVE NO USE
FOR THAT SORT OF SOFTWARE. AS I *SPECIICLY* STATED IN MY MESSAGE.


> 	Perhaps you will have to review the documentation
> on your distributions web site and ask about the program it
> uses.
> 	On those I mentioned getting a wanted program that happens
> to be in the repository is only a matter of typing the name of
> the program into a requester window.  If it is not in the
> repository then you have to do things with cli programs that
> will get what you want from the net.
> 
> 	bliss
>                                                                                                 
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                  

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#14487

On 04/11/2015 07:12 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> I DON'T WANT TO INSTALL LibreOffice or OpenOffice or ANY OTHER Office -- I DO
> KNOW HOW TO, BUT I DON'T WANT THAT CRAPOLA ON *MY* COMPUTERS. I HAVE NO USE
> FOR THAT SORT OF SOFTWARE. AS I *SPECIICLY* STATED IN MY MESSAGE.
>
If you don't want to install anything, you could upload the files to 
Google Drive. That is, if you aren't so GUI-phobic that you only use
text-mode browsers.

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#14490

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:10:33 -0400 Bill Marcum <bill.marcum57@gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> On 04/11/2015 07:12 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> > I DON'T WANT TO INSTALL LibreOffice or OpenOffice or ANY OTHER Office -- I DO
> > KNOW HOW TO, BUT I DON'T WANT THAT CRAPOLA ON *MY* COMPUTERS. I HAVE NO USE
> > FOR THAT SORT OF SOFTWARE. AS I *SPECIICLY* STATED IN MY MESSAGE.
> >
> If you don't want to install anything, you could upload the files to 
> Google Drive. That is, if you aren't so GUI-phobic that you only use
> text-mode browsers.

Using Google Drive with a dial-up connection is pretty awful (basically
unusable). I just want to convert the files to CSV, I can process CSV files
with various text-based scripting programs (eg using Tcl, etc.).  I want to 
work with the files on my local machine.

> 
> 
>                                                                                                                      

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                                                                                    

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#14491

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:10:33 -0400 Bill Marcum <bill.marcum57@gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> On 04/11/2015 07:12 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> > I DON'T WANT TO INSTALL LibreOffice or OpenOffice or ANY OTHER Office -- I DO
> > KNOW HOW TO, BUT I DON'T WANT THAT CRAPOLA ON *MY* COMPUTERS. I HAVE NO USE
> > FOR THAT SORT OF SOFTWARE. AS I *SPECIICLY* STATED IN MY MESSAGE.
> >
> If you don't want to install anything, you could upload the files to 
> Google Drive. That is, if you aren't so GUI-phobic that you only use
> text-mode browsers.

I have no problem installing software, I just don't want to install "Office"
sotware. It does not fit my workflow (really -- I have NEVER really used a
word processor -- the whole word processor mentality makes no sense to me).
The text above was a response to a message that replied to my original
message, which *specificly* specified that I was NOT looking for a
pointy-clicky solution. I did a search (using DuckDuckGo, not Google) but all
of the solutions involved either LibreOffice/OpenOffice or some MS-Windows
software.  There was one person who wrote a Perl script and was asking for 
help debugging.

It is *strange* (to me) to have to fire up a complex GUI monster program, just 
to do File=>Save As, then File=>Quit.  The only fortunate aspect is that it is 
not like I have a large number of files to convert.  For the two files in 
question (the ones I had today), I had to fire up another computer, copy the 
files over the network, fire up LibreOffice, do File=>Save As, then File=>Quit 
and copy the csv file over the network and shutdown the machine.  Massively 
cumbersome and inefficient. 

> 
> 
>                                                                                                                      

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                       

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#14502

Robert Heller writes:
> The text above was a response to a message that replied to my original
> message, which *specificly* specified that I was NOT looking for a
> pointy-clicky solution.

Libroffice can be used from the command line in batch mode.
-- 
John Hasler 
jhasler@newsguy.com
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

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#14507

At Sun, 12 Apr 2015 07:38:34 -0500 John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> wrote:

> 
> Robert Heller writes:
> > The text above was a response to a message that replied to my original
> > message, which *specificly* specified that I was NOT looking for a
> > pointy-clicky solution.
> 
> Libroffice can be used from the command line in batch mode.

1) Libroffice is not available for CentOS 5. 

2) *I* don't want to install a 350+meg set of packages for such a simple task. 

3) *I* have no use for Libroffice, OpenOffice, or any variation. Sometimes
   people send me data in the form of xlsx files and all *I* want is the data.
   There is no reason (other than stupidity) for using xlsx and not a plain texty
   CSV file.
   
It looks like my only solution is to delete the xlsx and ask for a CSV file.  
Sigh...

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
     

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#14486

Hi Robert -

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:48:50 -0500, Robert Heller
<heller@deepsoft.com> wrote:

>If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
>the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?

I don't know about documentation, but a .xlsx file is a zip file that
encapsulates a bunch of text .xml files.  So you should be able to use
any CLI unzip program to extract the .xml files.  That at least gives
you a starting point.

-- 
Ken

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#14488

At Sat, 11 Apr 2015 17:29:51 -0700 Ken Sims <ng12207@kensims.#nospam#.net.invalid> wrote:

> 
> Hi Robert -
> 
> On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 14:48:50 -0500, Robert Heller
> <heller@deepsoft.com> wrote:
> 
> >If there isn't a simple CLI program to do this, is there any documentation on 
> >the format of the file that I can use to write such a program?
> 
> I don't know about documentation, but a .xlsx file is a zip file that
> encapsulates a bunch of text .xml files.  So you should be able to use
> any CLI unzip program to extract the .xml files.  That at least gives
> you a starting point.

That much I know, but it is pretty much useless information. The "data" is
spread across several xml files. One has the cells, but contains no data.
Another has all of the strings, but not in cells (the file with the cells
references elements of the strings file in some cryptic fashion). There are
additional files with style and formatting information (which I am not
interested in). It is basically a mess. I need a magic decoder ring -- M$ has
used xml in a way that in no different than if they just used some random
binary encoding -- the whole 'Open Standard XML' is total nonsense -- total
smoke and mirrors. All of the web searches I have done either refer to
mess-windows shareware (useless) or refernence LibreOffice (which can't be
installed on CentOS 5 anyway, although a version of OpenOffice can be
installed, but I *don't want to install a GUI monster that I have no interest
in using).

> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
                                                                                                                        

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