Question

i am trying to read an excel file using java. while compiling the program i am getting error as illegal character. help me to fix this problem. here is the code

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Iterator;
import org.apache.poi.poifs.filesystem.POIFSFileSystem;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFCell;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFSheet;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFWorkbook;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFRow;



public class Readingexcel {

public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
         System.out.println("before reading");
        POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(new FileInputStream("input.xlsx"));
        HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook(fs);
        HSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheet("first");

        HSSFRow row;
        HSSFCell cell;
        String s;

        int rows; // No of rows
        rows = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();
         System.out.println(rows);
         System.out.println(sheet.getRow(1).getPhysicalNumberOfCells());
        int cols = 0; // No of columns
        int tmp = 0;

// This trick ensures that we get the data properly even if it doesn’t start from first few rows
        for (int i = 0; i < 10 || i < rows; i++) {
            row = sheet.getRow(i);

            if (row != null) {
                tmp = sheet.getRow(i).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();


                if (tmp > cols) {
                    cols = tmp;

                }
            }
        }

        for (int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
            row = sheet.getRow(r);
            if (row != null) {
                for (int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
                    cell = row.getCell((short) c);
                    if (cell != null) {
// Your code here
// s = cell.getData();
                       System.out.println(cell.getStringCellValue());


                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception ioe) {
        ioe.printStackTrace();
    }

}
}

while compiling the program am getting error like

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
 (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\vino>cd C:\Program Files\jdk1.6.0_10\bin

C:\Program Files\jdk1.6.0_10\bin>javac Readingexcel.java
Readingexcel.java:1: illegal character: \187
import java.io.IOException;
^
Readingexcel.java:1: illegal character: \191
import java.io.IOException;
^
2 errors

can anyone help me to fix this problem.

Answer 1

I am pretty sure that this is BOMs (Byte Order Marks). Make sure you use the correct encoding. Maybe open the file in some other editor and re-save it in order to remove the BOMs. Nodepad ++, for instance, helps you.

Good luck,
Max