**Loads data from a text file or string content into the worksheet. The method supports various formats as specified below.**

## Basic usage

In these examples we will specify input data like below. Data can either be a string or content of a text file.

```text
a,2,3%
d,3,5%
```

Now let's create a workbook with a worksheet and add this data into it using the LoadFromText method. In this case LoadFromText will use the default delimiters - comma for separating items in a row and "\\r\\n" for newline.

```csharp
using (var pck = new ExcelPackage())
{
    var sheet = pck.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("sheet");
    var file = new FileInfo("c:\\temp\\my_file.txt");
    sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file);
}
```

```vbnet
Using pck As New ExcelPackage()
    Dim sheet = pck.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("sheet")
    Dim file = New FileInfo("c:\temp\my_file.txt")
    sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file)
End Using
```

With the default behaviour the first row will be stored like this:

- The value "a" will be written to address C1.
- The second value 2 will be converted to a number, since it is numeric and written into D1.
- The third value will be written into E1 as 0.03 since it ends with a '%'.

## ExcelTextFormat

By supplying an instance of the ExcelTextFormat class you can configure the behaviour of the LoadFromText function.

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
// change delimiter to ';'
format.Delimiter = ';';
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
' change delimiter to ';'
format.Delimiter = ";"c
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format)
```

### Data types

You can override how EPPlus converts the data by specifying what data types should be used for each item in a row.

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
// specify the data type for each corresponding column position in a row
// with the configuration below all three items will be written into the worksheet as strings.
format.DataTypes = new eDataTypes[] { eDataTypes.String, eDataTypes.String, eDataTypes.String};
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
' specify the data type for each corresponding column position in a row
' with the configuration below all three items will be written into the worksheet as strings.
format.DataTypes = New eDataTypes() {eDataTypes.String, eDataTypes.String, eDataTypes.String}
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format)
```

NOTE: Date's and number's data types will be parsed according to the culture set in the `ExcelTextFormat.CultureInfo` property.

### Culture/Encoding

You can configure these via properties on the `ExcelTextFormat` class. Default Culture is `InvariantCulture` and default encoding is *ASCII*.

### TextQualifier

The `TextQualifier` is a character used for defining a string/block of text in a row. The default value is null which means that you must specify this if you need it.

Input:

```text
'One apple, one orange',2,3%
'Look, a bird!',3,5%
```

Set the `TextQualifier` to parse this input correctly:

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
format.TextQualifier = '\'';
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
format.TextQualifier = "'"c
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format)
```

### Skipping lines

You can make `LoadFromText` skip a number of lines in the beginning and/or in the end:

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
// will ignore the first line
format.SkipLinesBeginning = 1;
// will ignore the last two lines
format.SkipLinesEnd = 2;
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
' will ignore the first line
format.SkipLinesBeginning = 1
' will ignore the last two lines
format.SkipLinesEnd = 2
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format)
```

### Transpose

You can load the data in a transposed format by setting the Transpose property:

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
format.Transpose = true;
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
format.Transpose = True
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format)
```

## Table style

The third argument - TableStyle - gives you the possibility to style the range as a table.

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format, TableStyles.Dark1);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format, TableStyles.Dark1)
```

The [TableStyles enum](<https://github.com/EPPlusSoftware/EPPlus/blob/develop/src/EPPlus/Table/enums/TableStyles.cs>) gives you over 60 different table styles to pick from!

## Headers

If the first row of the content should be used as headers in the range, set the bool argument `FirstRowIsHeader` to true.

Given this input:

```text
Header 1, Header 2, Header 3
a,2,3%
d,3,5%
```

...you can call LoadFromText like below to get headers for each column in the range from the first row:

```csharp
var format = new ExcelTextFormat();
sheet.Cells["C1"].LoadFromText(file, format, TableStyles.Dark1, true);
```

```vbnet
Dim format As New ExcelTextFormat()
sheet.Cells("C1").LoadFromText(file, format, TableStyles.Dark1, True)
```

## See also

- [Sample 2.3-C\#](<https://github.com/EPPlusSoftware/EPPlus.Samples.CSharp/blob/master/02-Import and export/03-Import export csv files>) or [Sample 2.3 VB](<https://github.com/EPPlusSoftware/EPPlus.Samples.VB/tree/master/02-Import and export/03-Import export csv files>)
- [LoadFromTextAsync](<https://epplussoftware.com/docs/LoadFromTextAsync/index.md>)
- [Import data](<https://epplussoftware.com/docs/import-export-data/import/index.md>)