perl_new_b:

I should've read the entire thread before posting my last response. If you're just trying to convert the spreadsheets to .CSV files and add some data to the end, then it's really pretty simple. Writing a new cell handler (as described in the section "Reducing the memory usage of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel" of the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel documentation is pretty easy--all you need to do is store the value, not the formatting, etc. That will make the program consume *much* less RAM. (The cell handler is what builds the *huge* data structure containing all the formatting information, the cell value, unformatted value, etc. Also, each cell is an object containing other overhead such as references to the parent structures, miscellaneous information, etc.

It should be as easy as:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

# 3D array for the workbook data:
#   [0]=sheet #, [1]=row, [2]=col
my @WBData;

my $parser = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel->new(
               CellHandler => \&cell_handler,
               NotSetCell  => 1
);

my $workbook = $parser->parse('file.xls');

sub cell_handler {
   my $workbook    = $_[0];
   my $sheet_index = $_[1];
   my $row         = $_[2];
   my $col         = $_[3];
   my $cell        = $_[4];

   # Store *just* the value into our array
   $WBData[$sheet_index][$row][$col] = $cell->value();
}
[download]

Note: this is untested, it's just lifted straight from the example in the previous link with a couple minor edits.

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.