Extracting Excel to text on Linux server -

i’ve been struggling converting *.xls files generated instrument text format on linux server. i’m unable process files spreadsheet::parseexcel, unless, manually open them, sign off on security warning , save them. otherwise, not recognized excel (tested sample code).

!/usr/bin/perl -w      use strict;     use spreadsheet::parseexcel;      $parser   = spreadsheet::parseexcel->new();     $file = "/data/excel/matrix.xls";      $workbook = $parser->parse($file);      if ( !defined $workbook ) {         print "can't find workbook!!!";         die $parser->error(), ".\n";     }      $worksheet ( $workbook->worksheets() ) {          ( $row_min, $row_max ) = $worksheet->row_range();         ( $col_min, $col_max ) = $worksheet->col_range();          $row ( $row_min .. $row_max ) {             $col ( $col_min .. $col_max ) {                  $cell = $worksheet->get_cell( $row, $col );                 next unless $cell;                  print "row, col    = ($row, $col)\n";                 print "value       = ", $cell->value(),       "\n";                 print "unformatted = ", $cell->unformatted(), "\n";                 print "\n";             }         }     } 

i’ve tried changing extension *.prn , lets me open files manually without warning not recognized spreadsheet::parseexcel either.

the files contain 8 columns of data on first sheet only. convert them text files , used them values in perl script. here sample data in excel:

gene   target  barcode1   barcode2   barcode3   barcode4   barcode5   barcode6 motor  motor_1  343        453        432        345        543        342 mycn   mycn_2   342        98         87         876        54         765 

my last option use vba reader stick perl/shell code if possible. there straightforward solution problem?

thank you,

it's not particularly elegant, might try using linux command "strings" extract printable characters spreadsheet file first. parse output until see column headings, , data should after that.