Php csv export downloaded as Windows-1252 instead of utf_8

Question

Hello i have utf_8 encoded data but when in export i open it on microsoft excel i get this

here when i opened with notepad

and when i open the file as excel i get this encoding from original file 1252 windows

here is my code

    $outputCSv = "";
        
        $someData = array(
    array('one' ,'two' ,'three'),
    array('واحد', 'اثنان', 'ثلاثة'),
    array ('اربعة', 'خمسة', 'ستة'),
    array('سبعة', 'ثمانية', 'تسعة'));

foreach ($someData as $data) {
    $outputCSv .= implode(',', $data) . "\r\n";
}
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=csvTest.csv");
header("Content-Encoding: UTF-8");
echo "\xEF\xBB\xBF"; // UTF-8 BOM  

echo $outputCSv; exit(0);

This has nothing to do with phpexcel or phpspreadsheet and I don't quite get why you use `application/vnd.ms-excel` mime type - csv ought to be `text/csv` — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 13:52
i removed the phpexcel and phpspreadsheet tags even if change it to text/csv still the same getting the file in 1252 windows encoding — Mehdi Ammar, Sep 01 '20 at 13:57
have you tried notepad++ or vscode or some other more advanced editor? — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 13:58
yeah when i use notepad++ or other editors i get the result i want but only when i opened in microsoft excel i get the wrongs caracters — Mehdi Ammar, Sep 01 '20 at 14:00
https://www.itg.ias.edu/content/how-import-csv-file-uses-utf-8-character-encoding-0 — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 14:01
Since CSV is a simple text file then I don't see how you can make it work without having to convert the data from Excel — Alon Eitan, Sep 01 '20 at 14:01
You can use [PhpSpreadsheet](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet) and create an `.xls` file that will solve the issue (Unless you must use the CSV format) — Alon Eitan, Sep 01 '20 at 14:03
yeah cause when in download the file i don't get utf_8 encoding i get windows 1252 encoding even when i add the header — Mehdi Ammar, Sep 01 '20 at 14:03
I think Excel automagically parses csv as 1252. you need to import it as text isung the wizard if you want it as utf8 - or try tsv instead — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 14:07
Possible duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6002256/is-it-possible-to-force-excel-recognize-utf-8-csv-files-automatically — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 14:09
Does this answer your question? [Is it possible to force Excel recognize UTF-8 CSV files automatically?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6002256/is-it-possible-to-force-excel-recognize-utf-8-csv-files-automatically) — JoSSte, Sep 01 '20 at 14:09
It's hard to tell for sure but I have the impression that you have white spaces before the output. — Álvaro González, Sep 01 '20 at 14:33

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '20 at 11:15

While i wasted my time on challenging the encoding i used the output buffering and it worked like charm

ob_clean();
    ob_start();
      $outputCSv = "";
    
    $someData = array(
array('one' ,'two' ,'three'),
array('واحد', 'اثنان', 'ثلاثة'),
array ('اربعة', 'خمسة', 'ستة'),
array('سبعة', 'ثمانية', 'تسعة'));

foreach ($someData as $data) {
    $outputCSv .= implode(',', $data) . "\r\n";
}
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=csvTest.csv");
header("Content-Encoding: UTF-8");
echo "\xEF\xBB\xBF"; // UTF-8 BOM  

echo $outputCSv; 
 ob_end_flush();
exit(0);

Php csv export downloaded as Windows-1252 instead of utf_8

1 Answers1