perl story

In my work, I have a reputation of data-problematic-related fast resolver. Yesterday, I received a ZIP file with 200 Excel files. The problem: each XLS file had a close but different format, with columns changed or dropped. They wanted a complex report with the result of joining all files (in the correct way).

So I wrote a script with Spreadsheet::ParseExcel (I've used it before), and in a few minutes I had a script that extracted the information and merged it in a simple CSV file. Then I did an import process in Excel and generate the report with dynamic tables. Success!

Perl saved me hours of work (tedious) and made me happy. I often use Perl in this way, doing load, extraction and transformation tasks. I often write little scripts that simplify my work and increase my productivity. That's the reason because I have to resolve many problems of this kind every day ... and I like it.