SLK to JSONSYLK

Symbolic Link format.

Microsoft's line-based spreadsheet format from the Multiplan era, still offered by Excel as "SYLK (Symbolic Link)". TabularJS decodes cell, format and bounds records, including E-parameter formulas.

A SYLK file is plain text with one record per line. ID opens the file, C;Y2;X1;K"Tea" puts a value in row 2, column 1, F records set formats and column widths, P records list number formats, and E ends the file. A formula is written after an E parameter, in R1C1 notation.

Because it is easy to write by hand, SYLK is still produced by older reporting tools and scripts. TabularJS reads it in Node.js and the browser and returns one worksheet.

Feature support

What TabularJS extracts from SLK files

• Values from K parameters: unquoted numbers become numbers, quoted text becomes a string.
• Formulas from E parameters, converted to A1 notation with = (=R[-2]C+R[-1]C in B4 becomes =B2+B3). The formula is in data and in cells['B4'].formula, with = in both.
• Styles from F records (bold and italic, borders, alignment, background) as CSS strings in worksheet.style.
• Column widths from F;W records, and number format masks from P records in cells[...].mask.
• LF, CRLF and CR-only line endings, so files from classic Mac Excel work too.

Convert SLK to JSON in Node.js

import tabularjs from 'tabularjs';

const result = await tabularjs('prices.slk');
const sheet = result.worksheets[0];

console.log(sheet.data);
// [ [ 'Item', 'Price' ], [ 'Tea', 2.5 ], [ 'Coffee', 3 ], [ 'Total', '=B2+B3' ] ]
console.log(sheet.cells.B4); // { formula: '=B2+B3' }

Read SLK files in the browser

import tabularjs from 'tabularjs';

const input = document.querySelector('input[type=file]');

input.addEventListener('change', async () => {
  const result = await tabularjs(input.files[0]);
  console.log(result.worksheets[0].data);
});

JSON output

{
  "worksheets": [
    {
      "data": [
        ["Item", "Price"],
        ["Tea", 2.5],
        ["Coffee", 3],
        ["Total", "=B2+B3"]
      ],
      "columns": [{ "title": "A", "width": 143 }, { "title": "B", "width": 100 }],
      "rows": {},
      "cells": { "B4": { "formula": "=B2+B3" } },
      "style": {},
      "mergeCells": {},
      "comments": {}
    }
  ]
}

Complete output for a small SYLK file with a column width and one formula. A worksheet from SYLK has no worksheetName.

Options

Limitations

• Formulas are not calculated, and the value saved next to a formula (its K parameter) is dropped in favor of the formula text.
• One worksheet per file, without a name, because SYLK has no sheets. Comment lines (starting with ;) are skipped.

Frequently asked questions

Why TabularJS for SYLK?

• No external spreadsheet parser dependencies: faster installs, smaller bundles.
• One API in Node.js and modern browsers.
• Output is shape-compatible withJspreadsheet: render parsed data in a live workbook with one call.