How to read excel files in java using Apache POI

In this post, we will see how to read excel in java using Apache POI example.

The Apache POI Project’s mission is to create and maintain Java APIs for manipulating various file formats based upon the Office Open XML standards (OOXML) and Microsoft’s OLE 2 Compound Document format (OLE2). In short, you can read and write MS Excel files using Java.

Some basics about Apache POI:

There are two prefixes which you encounter while reading/writing excel in java

HSSF: Used for dealing with files excel 2003 or earlier(.xls). Some of classes with HSSF prefix are HSSFWorkbook , HSSFSheet , HSSFRow and HSSFCell.

XSSF: Used for dealing with files excel 2007 or later(.xlsx). Some of classes with XSSF prefix are XSSFWorkbook , XSSFSheet , XSSFRow and XSSFCell.

Here are few classes which you need to aware of.

  • Workbook : This is high level class for representing excel workbook.
  • Sheet : This is high level class for representing excel sheet.
  • Row : This is high level class for representing excel row. It has methods which are related to row.
  • Cell: This is high level class for representing individual excel cell. It has methods which are related to cell for example : getDataType().

Dependency:

If you are using maven, then you need to add below dependency in pom.xml.

If you are not using maven, then you need to add below jars in classpath.

  • poi-3.13.jar
  • commons-codec-1.9.jar
  • poi-ooxml-3.13.jar
  • poi-ooxml-schemas-3.13.jar
  • xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar
  • stax-api-1.0.1.jar

Read excel file using poi:

Java Program:

We are going to read countries.xlsx. Its content is :

Create ReadWriteExcelMain.java as below

When you run above program, you will get following output:

Lets be more object oriented.

We will read each row and create country object. Obviously we will skip header row.
Create a class called Country.java in package com.arpit.java2blog.model

ReadExcelWithCounryMain.java
When you run above program, you will get following output:

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Comments

  1. I cannot run program,i use 2010 excel version.my excel file path is under D,so
    String excelFilePath = “D:\\Countries.xlsx”;
    FileInputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(new File(classLoader.getResource(excelFilePath).getFile()));
    i have that Exception.
    Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.excel.ReadExcelMain.readFileUsingPOI(ReadExcelMain.java:26)
    at com.excel.ReadExcelMain.main(ReadExcelMain.java:19)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:140)
    Thank & Regards
    SuLabt

  2. Hi,
    If you are directly using absolute path of the file, please use below code
    String excelFilePath = “D:\\\\Countries.xlsx”;
    FileInputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(new File(excelFilePath));

    Let me know if it works now
    Thanks

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