Export MySQL query to Excel file

Export MySQL query to Excel file (XLS or XLSX file)

Methods

One step conversion: ex MySQL query -> Excel file

Methods of exporting MySQL query -> XLS/XLSX file: PHP scripts or other MySQL client softwares e.g.

• PHPExcel: PHP scripts
• Using Database management tools e.g. Toad for MySQL for Win , $ Navicat GUI for Win & macOS

Notice the limit of Excel XLS file format:

1. "Total number of characters that a cell can contain: 32,767 characters"
   • Using MySQL SUBSTRING() function ex: SUBSTRING(string_column, 1, 32767) for EXCEL 97-2007 (XLS 檔)
   • validate the count of characters: MySQL CHAR_LENGTH or Excel LEN functions
2. "Length of formula contents: 8,192 characters" If the content start with the symbol = or -, Excel will consider the content is formula.
   • Using CONCAT ' symbol ex: CONCAT('\'', string_column) If the content is not formula.
3. "Worksheet size: 1,048,576 rows":
   • Using LIMIT 1048576 for EXCEL 2007

integrated solution for Excel limit 1 ~ limit 3

• SELECT SUBSTRING(IF(LEFT(string_column, 1) = '-' OR LEFT(string_column, 1) = '=', CONCAT('\'', string_column), string_column), 1, 32767) FROM <table> LIMIT 1048576

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Two steps conversion ex: MySQL query -> CSV file -> Excel file

Step 1: Export the MySQL query -> CSV file

Approaches

• Database management tools (MySQL client softwares)
• PHPExcel
• MySQL :: MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual :: 8.4.3 Dumping Data in Delimited-Text Format with mysqldump
  • Required FILE permission ex: GRANT FILE ON *.* TO 'user_name'@'localhost'; If you met the following error message:

mysqldump: Got error: 1045: Access denied for user 'user_name'@'localhost' (using password: YES) when executing 'SELECT INTO OUTFILE'

Condition

• Condition 1: If the rows count of MySQL query is larger than 65,535 rows. You can use MS Excel.
• Condition 2: If the rows count of MySQL query is less than 65,535 rows. You can use LibreOffice Calc & MS Excel.
• Condition 3: Replace the double quote with double double quote if the enclosure character is double quote.
• Condition 4: (optional) Replace the return character with space character or other character e.g. ↵ (U+21B5). SQL query syntax:

REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(column_name, '\r\n', ''), '\n', ''), '\r', '') AS column_name

Validation: Use the editor supported Regular expression,

• Search ^[^"] in the csv files to search the rows which contains return symbols. The " symbol is the "text qualifier" what I specified before export the MySQL query.

Step 2: Convert CSV to XLSX/XLS file format.

• MS Excel
  • How to import a .csv file that uses UTF-8 character encoding | Information Technology Group
  • Err: 解決CSV檔亂碼 (Microsoft Excel 2007 或 OpenOffice.org 3.2) Win
  • Err: Mac Office Excel 匯入中文 CSV 檔案 (Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011) macOS
• LibreOffice Calc (LibreOffice Portable)

Step 3: Data verification

1. Verify the data rows count: Equal to the rows count of MySQL query. Not equal to 65,535 rows or less than the rows count of MySQL query.
2. Verify the data column is in correct position
   • If the CSV is not well-formatted, sometimes the data column after imported to Excel is in wrong position.
3. Verify the rows count
   • If the data size is less than 65,535 rows, convert CSV to Excel/XLS by LibreOffice Calc is recommended.
   • If the data size is larger than 65,535 rows, Adjust the MySQL query to avoid the column value contains the
     • enclosure character e.g. Tab key
     • escape the enclosure character e.g. " become ""
     • return symbol to separate different data row.

Troubleshooting of technical issues

If it costs too much time to convert to Excel file

The important steps before generating CSV file. These steps reduce the problems when the CSV file was converted to Excel file.

• Add delimiter character between different column ex: comma symbol (,) or tab symbol
• Add enclosure character ex: double quote symbol (") or single quote symbol (')
• Add escape character escape the column value if contains the enclosure character
• Remove return symbol:

  SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(`my_column`, '\r\n', '   '), '\n', '   '), '\r', '   ') 

Data format in result set became string after exported as Excel file

• Number data types in result set became string after exported as XLSX file
• Date time data types in result set became string after exported as XLSX file

Microsoft Excel (XLS or XLSX) & OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) file limits

Microsoft Excel#Microsoft Excel (XLS or XLSX) & OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) file limits

References

Data factory flow

• 🔍 Data Collection: 1. How to extract content from websites
• 🧹 Data Cleaning: 2. Data cleaning, 3. Regular expression
• ⚙️ Data Processing: 4. Json encode and decode, 5. Convert between date and unix timestamp, 6. MySQL commands
• 📊 Data Analysis: 7. Data exploration
• 📤 Data Output: 8. Comparison of common data file formats, 9. Export MySQL query to Excel file, 10. Microsoft Excel
• 🔧 Troubleshooting: 11. Troubleshooting of MySQL errors