title: Exporting Columns From MySQL to Excel Spreadsheet - PHP (Date Format Error)
body: <p>I am trying to export 3 columns|: <code>ReferenceNumber</code>, <code>CustomerName</code> and <code>DateOfSigning</code> from the table <code>Billing</code> from a MySQL database. At the moment the code below extracts the appropriate columns into an Excel file as I want but I have one small problem:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>My DateOfSigning field in the Excel file is coming up as <code>#######</code>, the date format in the database is YYYY-MM-DD. Any ideas on how I would fix this?</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>My code:</p>
  
  <pre><code> &lt;?php
  
      //Export MySQL data to Excel File
              //Edit MySQL Connection Info:
              $DB_Server = "localhost";        //MySQL Server
              $DB_Username = "root";           //MySQL User Name
              $DB_Password = "";               //MySQL Password
              $DB_DBName = "dba";              //MySQL Database Name
              $DB_TBLName = "Billing";     //MySQL Table Name
  
          //DEFINE SQL QUERY:
          $sql = "Select ReferenceNumber, CustomerName, DateOfSigning FROM $DB_TBLName";
  
          //Optional: print out title to top of Excel or Word file with Timestamp for when file was generated:
          //Set $Use_Title = 1 to generate title, 0 not to use title
          $Use_Title = 1;
  
         //Define date for title: EDIT this to create the time-format you need
         $now_date = DATE('Y-M-D');
  
        //Define title for .doc or .xls file: EDIT this if you want
        $title = "Mandate Information - DB Alliance Ltd";
        /*
  
        */
        //Create MySQL connection
        $Connect = @MYSQL_CONNECT($DB_Server, $DB_Username, $DB_Password)
        or DIE("Couldn't connect to MySQL:&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERROR() . "&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERRNO());
        //Select database
        $Db = @MYSQL_SELECT_DB($DB_DBName, $Connect)
        or DIE("Couldn't select database:&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERROR(). "&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERRNO());
        //Execute query
        $result = @MYSQL_QUERY($sql,$Connect)
        or DIE("Couldn't execute query:&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERROR(). "&lt;br&gt;" . MYSQL_ERRNO());
  
        //if this parameter is included ($w=1), file returned will be in word format ('.doc')
        //if parameter is not included, file returned will be in excel format ('.xls')
        IF (ISSET($w) &amp;&amp; ($w==1))
        {
         $file_type = "msword";
         $file_ending = "doc";
        }ELSE {
         $file_type = "vnd.ms-excel";
         $file_ending = "xls";
        }
  
        //Header info for browser: determines file type ('.doc' or '.xls')
        HEADER("Content-Type: application/$file_type");
        HEADER("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=MDT_DB_$now_date.$file_ending");
        HEADER("Pragma: no-cache");
        HEADER("Expires: 0");
  
        /*    Start of Formatting for Word or Excel    */
  
        IF (ISSET($w) &amp;&amp; ($w==1)) //check for $w again
        {
           /*    FORMATTING FOR WORD DOCUMENTS ('.doc')   */
           //create title with timestamp:
           IF ($Use_Title == 1)
           {
               ECHO("$title\n\n");
           }
  
           //Define separator (defines columns in excel &amp; tabs in word)
           $sep = "\n"; //new line character
  
           WHILE($row = MYSQL_FETCH_ROW($result))
           {
               //set_time_limit(60); // HaRa
               $schema_insert = "";
               FOR($j=0; $j&lt;mysql_num_fields($result);$j++)
               {
               //define field names
               $field_name = MYSQL_FIELD_NAME($result,$j);
               //will show name of fields
               $schema_insert .= "$field_name:\t";
                   IF(!ISSET($row[$j])) {
                       $schema_insert .= "NULL".$sep;
                       }
                   ELSEIF ($row[$j] != "") {
                       $schema_insert .= "$row[$j]".$sep;
                       }
                   ELSE {
                       $schema_insert .= "".$sep;
                       }
              }
               $schema_insert = STR_REPLACE($sep."$", "", $schema_insert);
               $schema_insert .= "\t";
               PRINT(TRIM($schema_insert));
               //end of each mysql row
               //creates line to separate data from each MySQL table row
               PRINT "\n----------------------------------------------------\n";
           }
      }ELSE{
       /*    FORMATTING FOR EXCEL DOCUMENTS ('.xls')   */
       //create title with timestamp:
       IF ($Use_Title == 1)
       {
           ECHO("$title\n");
       }
       //define separator (defines columns in excel &amp; tabs in word)
       $sep = "\t"; //tabbed character
  
       //start of printing column names as names of MySQL fields
       FOR ($i = 0; $i &lt; MYSQL_NUM_FIELDS($result); $i++)
       {
           ECHO MYSQL_FIELD_NAME($result,$i) . "\t";
       }
       PRINT("\n");
       //end of printing column names
  
       //start while loop to get data
       WHILE($row = MYSQL_FETCH_ROW($result))
       {
           //set_time_limit(60); // HaRa
           $schema_insert = "";
           FOR($j=0; $j&lt;mysql_num_fields($result);$j++)
           {
               IF(!ISSET($row[$j]))
                   $schema_insert .= "NULL".$sep;
               ELSEIF ($row[$j] != "")
                   $schema_insert .= "$row[$j]".$sep;
               ELSE
                   $schema_insert .= "".$sep;
           }
           $schema_insert = STR_REPLACE($sep."$", "", $schema_insert);
           //following fix suggested by Josue (thanks, Josue!)
           //this corrects output in excel when table fields contain \n or \r
           //these two characters are now replaced with a space
           $schema_insert = PREG_REPLACE("/\r\n|\n\r|\n|\r/", " ", $schema_insert);
           $schema_insert .= "\t";
           PRINT(TRIM($schema_insert));
           PRINT "\n";
       }
    }
  
    ?&gt;
  </code></pre>