Excel2Array()

Overview

Excel2Array() reads an Excel spreadsheet file and converts its contents into a PHP array. Each row in the spreadsheet becomes an element in the resulting array, and each column value becomes an element within that row.

This function is commonly used in MerciGlobal Cloud ERP for importing structured data such as products, customers, inventory records, or other bulk data from Excel files.

Syntax

Excel2Array($fExcel)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`$fExcel`	string	The file path of the Excel file to read. The file must be accessible to the server.

Return Value

Returns a multidimensional array representing the Excel worksheet data.

Each outer array element represents a row.
Each inner array element represents a column value.

Example structure:

[
    ["Column1", "Column2", "Column3"],
    ["Value1", "Value2", "Value3"],
    ["Value4", "Value5", "Value6"]
]

Example

Example Excel Sheet

Product	Price	Qty
Pen	10	50
Pencil	5	100

PHP Code

$file = "products.xlsx";

$data = Excel2Array($file);

print_r($data);

Output

[
    ["Product", "Price", "Qty"],
    ["Pen", "10", "50"],
    ["Pencil", "5", "100"]
]

Common Use Cases

Importing product lists
Bulk customer uploads
Inventory updates
Data migration from spreadsheets
Preparing spreadsheet data for database insertion

Notes

Ensure the Excel file exists before calling the function.
Large Excel files may consume more memory and processing time.
The function reads the sheet row by row.
Empty cells may return an empty string or null depending on the implementation.

Best Practices

Validate the file before processing and sanitize the imported data before inserting it into the database.

$file = "products.xlsx";

if(file_exists($file)){
    $data = Excel2Array($file);
}

Array2Excel() – Converts a PHP array into an Excel file.
CSV2Array() – Converts a CSV file into an array.
ImportData() – Processes imported array data into ERP modules.