1. Introduction
  2. Formatting Tutorial
  3. Workbook::close
  4. Workbook::&addWorksheet
  5. Workbook::&addFormat
  6. Workbook::setCountry
  7. Workbook::&setTempDir
  8. Workbook::setVersion
  9. Workbook::setCustomColor
  10. Workbook::worksheets
  11. Worksheet::getName
  12. Worksheet::
    setInputEncoding
  13. Worksheet::select
  14. Worksheet::activate
  15. Worksheet::setFirstSheet
  16. Worksheet::protect
  17. Worksheet::setColumn
  18. Worksheet::writeCol
  19. Worksheet::writeRow
  20. Worksheet::setSelection
  21. Worksheet::freezePanes
  22. Worksheet::thawPanes
  23. Worksheet::
    hideScreenGridlines
  24. Worksheet::setPortrait
  25. Worksheet::setLandscape
  26. Worksheet::setPaper
  27. Worksheet::setHeader
  28. Worksheet::setFooter
  29. Worksheet::setMerge
  30. Worksheet::
    centerHorizontally
  31. Worksheet::
    centerVertically
  32. Worksheet::setMargins
  33. Worksheet::setMargins_LR
  34. Worksheet::setMargins_TB
  35. Worksheet::setMarginLeft
  36. Worksheet::
    setMarginRight
  37. Worksheet::setMarginTop
  38. Worksheet::
    setMarginBottom
  39. Worksheet::repeatRows
  40. Worksheet::repeatColumns
  41. Worksheet::printArea
  42. Worksheet::hideGridlines
  43. Worksheet::
    printRowColHeaders
  44. Worksheet::fitToPages
  45. Worksheet::
    setHPagebreaks
  46. Worksheet::
    setVPagebreaks
  47. Worksheet::setZoom
  48. Worksheet::setPrintScale
  49. Worksheet::write
  50. Worksheet::writeNumber
  51. Worksheet::writeString
  52. Worksheet::writeNote
  53. Worksheet::writeBlank
  54. Worksheet::writeFormula
  55. Worksheet::writeUrl
  56. Worksheet::setRow
  57. Worksheet::mergeCells
  58. Worksheet::insertBitmap
  59. Worksheet::setOutline
  60. Spreadsheet_Excel_Writer
  61. send
  62. rowcolToCell
  63. Format::setAlign
  64. Format::setVAlign
  65. Format::setHAlign
  66. Format::setMerge
  67. Format::setLocked
  68. Format::setUnLocked
  69. Format::setBold
  70. Format::setBottom
  71. Format::setTop
  72. Format::setLeft
  73. Format::setRight
  74. Format::setBorder
  75. Format::setBorderColor
  76. Format::setBottomColor
  77. Format::setTopColor
  78. Format::setLeftColor
  79. Format::setRightColor
  80. Format::setFgColor
  81. Format::setBgColor
  82. Format::setColor
  83. Format::setPattern
  84. Format::setUnderline
  85. Format::setItalic
  86. Format::setSize
  87. Format::setTextWrap
  88. Format::setTextRotation
  89. Format::setNumFormat
  90. Format::setStrikeOut
  91. Format::setOutLine
  92. Format::setShadow
  93. Format::setScript
  94. Format::setFontFamily

Worksheet::writeString

Worksheet::writeString – Write a string to the specified row and column (zero indexed).

Synopsis

require_once "Spreadsheet/Excel/Writer.php";

void Worksheet::writeString ( integer $row , integer $col , string $str , mixed $format=0 )

Description

Write a string to the specified row and column (zero indexed). NOTE: there is an Excel 5 defined limit of 255 characters. $format is optional. Returns 0 : normal termination -1 : insufficient number of arguments -2 : row or column out of range -3 : long string truncated to 255 chars

Parameter

  • integer $row - Zero indexed row

  • integer $col - Zero indexed column

  • string $str - The string to write

  • mixed $format - The XF format for the cell

Note

This function can not be called statically.

Example

Using writeString()

<?php

?>
Write a double to the specified row and column (zero indexed). (Previous) Writes a note associated with the cell given by the row and column. (Next)
Last updated: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 — Download Documentation
Do you think that something on this page is wrong? Please file a bug report.
View this page in:
  • English

User Notes:

Note by: alan@akbkhome.com
There appears to be a limit even with $workbook->setVersion(8); of somewhere over 2048 characters (eg 4096 breaks output of future lines, 2048 works)
Note by: Jason M
After playing around with the 'newline' problem I discovered the real solution is using "\n" and also setting 'TextWrap' on the cell. For example:

$fmt = $book->addFormat(array('TextWrap' => 1));
$sheet->write(0,0, "Line1\rLine2\rLine3", $fmt);

If you don't enable TextWrap on the cell then the text will not break when viewed in the spreadsheet table (but it will break if you edit it in the formula bar).

I hope this helps those that continue to have this problem.
Note by: user@example.com
Thanks for the ' $workbook->setVersion(8); ' tip. It really solved my problem, now I can export long strings into cells for .csv files!!
Note by: user@example.com
For working on strings longer than 255 chars:

$workbook->setVersion(8); // Use Excel97/2000 Format
$worksheet->writeString(0, 0, $str);
Note by: marisa@datasmithconsulting.net
Is there any way around the 255 limit on a cell? If I have a file open in Excel, I can paste more than 255 characters into a cell, but I can't seem to accomplish this when generating a spreadsheet with this package. I could do it as a Note, but I really want to have the text in a cell.
Note by: basstradamus@trygues.com
To break a line use: $twoLines = "line1".chr(10)."line2".
Note by: chris@chris-hughes.net
You need to define a wrap format for Excel
e.g.

$wrap_format =& $xls->addFormat();
$wrap_format->setTextWrap();

$sheet->writeString(0,4,"Count \n Items, $wrap_format");
Note by: kirh
Hi,

just write \x0a for the new line.
Note by: mrjoops@yahoo.no
I tried to write a string with some line breaks in. So I add some "\n" to my string.
The result in Openoffice looks exactly like I want, however in Excel, all the text appear on the same line but when I edit the cell, the text appears with the line breaks and I have to effectively "enter" the edited text to make it display correctly on the worksheet.
Is there a method to make the text display correctly on Excel opening ?
Note by: cconstantine
mrjoops linebreak question: Try including DOS-style line breaks. Instead of adding the newline character ("\n") to your string, try adding the CARRIAGE-RETURN/NEWLINE character pair ("\r\n").