[RESOLVED] write to xls / date format

[jeepin81]

I am writing a bunch of data to an excel file and it keeps formatting some of the data to a date format. For example we have a part number that is APR35 and when I view the xls it auto formats it to Apr-35.

Can I append something to my $data variable so it doesn't auto format in excel?

my code:

$h = fopen('myfile.xls', 'w');
fwrite($h, $data."\t"); 

I appreciate the help.

[Derokorian]

and excel trick I know of is to prefix the value with a single quote so that excel doesn't try to parse the value. this is also useful if you have a value that starts with an equal sign (and how I discovered it).

[jeepin81]

Thank you... that will work for the time being. I also noticed if I add whitespace to the end it doesn't format to a date value. I'm going to download the PHPExcel class and see how that works as well. Thanks again for the help - i'll mark this thread resolved.