The code needs some basic checks on whether the worksheet contains 'Account Names' and 'Account Numbers' columns before trying to access data in those columns. In addition there should be checks on whether the accessed rows contain data.

If the cells don't contain information then Spreadsheet::ParseExcel will return undef values.

The following is a working example. Substitute the prints for database inserts and the warns for error reporting and you should be most of the way there.

    #!/usr/bin/perl

    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

    my $parser   = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel->new();
    my $workbook = $parser->parse( 'accounts.xls' );

    if ( !defined $workbook ) {
        die $parser->error(), ".\n";
    }

    WORKSHEET:
    for my $worksheet ( $workbook->worksheets() ) {

        my $sheetname = $worksheet->get_name();
        my ( $row_min, $row_max ) = $worksheet->row_range();
        my ( $col_min, $col_max ) = $worksheet->col_range();
        my $account_name_col;
        my $account_number_col;

        # Skip worksheet if it doesn't contain data.
        if ( $row_min > $row_max ) {
            warn "\tWorksheet $sheetname doesn't contain data.\n";
            next WORKSHEET;
        }

        # Check for certain column headers in the first data row.
        COLUMN:
        for my $col ( $col_min .. $col_max ) {

            my $cell = $worksheet->get_cell( $row_min, $col );
            next COLUMN unless $cell;

            $account_name_col   = $col if $cell->value() eq 'Account N
+ames';
            $account_number_col = $col if $cell->value() eq 'Account N
+umbers';
        }

        # Check that we found the required columns headers.
        if ( defined $account_name_col && defined $account_number_col 
+) {
            ROW:
            for my $row ( $row_min + 1 .. $row_max ) {

                my $name_cell   = $worksheet->get_cell( $row, $account
+_name_col );
                my $number_cell = $worksheet->get_cell( $row, $account
+_number_col );

                if ( defined $name_cell && defined $number_cell ) {

                    my $name   = $name_cell->value();
                    my $number = $number_cell->value();

                    # We have the data we are looking for. Do somethin
+g with it.
                    print "Worksheet      = $sheetname\n";
                    print "Row            = $row\n";
                    print "Account name   = $name\n";
                    print "Account number = $number\n\n";
                }
                else {

                    # Handle the error condition in some way.
                    warn "\tWorksheet $sheetname, Row = $row doesn't c
+ontain "
                      . "'Account Names' and 'Account Numbers' data.\n
+";

                    next ROW;

                }
            }
        }
        else {

            # Handle the error condition in some way.
            warn "\tWorksheet $sheetname: Didn't find 'Account Names' 
+and "
              . "'Account Numbers' headings.\n";
            next WORKSHEET;
        }
    }

    __END__
[download]

--
John.

---

---

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