PHPExcel throws Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 71 bytes)

Question

I am using PHPExcel (found here: https://github.com/PHPOffice/PHPExcel). If i try to read more than approximately 2000 rows then it shows memory error as follows.

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 71 bytes) in /home/sample/PHPExcelReader/Classes/PHPExcel/worksheet.php on line 89

My Excel data range is A1:X2000

Below is my code used to read the excel.

ini_set('memory_limit', '-1');
/** Include path **/
        set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . 'Classes/');


    /** PHPExcel_IOFactory */
    include $unsecured_param['home_dir'].'APIs/PHPExcelReader/Classes/PHPExcel/IOFactory.php';
    $inputFileName = $target;  // File to read
    //echo 'Loading file ',pathinfo($inputFileName,PATHINFO_BASENAME),' using IOFactory to identify the format<br />';
    try {
        $objPHPExcel = PHPExcel_IOFactory::load($inputFileName);
    } catch(Exception $e) {
        die('Error loading file "'.pathinfo($inputFileName,PATHINFO_BASENAME).'": '.$e->getMessage());
    }

    $sheetData = $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->rangeToArray('A1:X2000', null, true, true, true)
    //store data into array..
    $i=0;$j=0;$max_rows=0;$max_columns=0;
    foreach($sheetData as $rec)
    {
        foreach($rec as $part)
        {//echo "items[$j][$i]=" ; echo $part;echo "<br>";
            $items[$j][$i]=$part; $i=$i+1;
            if($j==0) {$max_columns=$i;}
        }
        $j=$j+1;$i=0;
    }
    $max_rows=$j;

Could any one please let me know how to overcome this issue ?

Are you sure that you're using the latest version? As far as I can see line 89 in worksheet.php is an empty line. — h2ooooooo
several servers block "ini_set", Try php.net/manual/en/configuration.php — Guilherme Nascimento
@h2ooooooo : yes i use latest version of code. Downloaded from codeplex — logan

Mark Baker Mark Baker · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-19T21:41:47

Consider using cell caching to reduce the memory required to hold the workbook in memory, as described in section 4.2.1 of the developer documentation

And consider not using toArray() and then using that to build another array in memory.... doing this is really using a lot of memory to hold duplicated data, when you could simply loop through the rows and columns of the worksheet to do what you need

PHPExcel throws Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 71 bytes)

2 Answers