Try the Apache POI HSSF. Here's an example on how to read an excel file:

try {
    POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(new FileInputStream(file));
    HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook(fs);
    HSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheetAt(0);
    HSSFRow row;
    HSSFCell cell;

    int rows; // No of rows
    rows = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();

    int cols = 0; // No of columns
    int tmp = 0;

    // This trick ensures that we get the data properly even if it doesn't start from first few rows
    for(int i = 0; i < 10 || i < rows; i++) {
        row = sheet.getRow(i);
        if(row != null) {
            tmp = sheet.getRow(i).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();
            if(tmp > cols) cols = tmp;
        }
    }

    for(int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
        row = sheet.getRow(r);
        if(row != null) {
            for(int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
                cell = row.getCell((short)c);
                if(cell != null) {
                    // Your code here
                }
            }
        }
    }
} catch(Exception ioe) {
    ioe.printStackTrace();
}

On the documentation page you also have examples of how to write to excel files.

Apache POI can do this for you. Specifically the HSSF module. The quick guide is most useful. Here's how to do what you want - specifically create a sheet and write it out.

Workbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook();
//Workbook wb = new XSSFWorkbook();
CreationHelper createHelper = wb.getCreationHelper();
Sheet sheet = wb.createSheet("new sheet");

// Create a row and put some cells in it. Rows are 0 based.
Row row = sheet.createRow((short)0);
// Create a cell and put a value in it.
Cell cell = row.createCell(0);
cell.setCellValue(1);

// Or do it on one line.
row.createCell(1).setCellValue(1.2);
row.createCell(2).setCellValue(
createHelper.createRichTextString("This is a string"));
row.createCell(3).setCellValue(true);

// Write the output to a file
FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream("workbook.xls");
wb.write(fileOut);
fileOut.close();

First add all these jar files in your project class path:

1. poi-scratchpad-3.7-20101029
2. poi-3.2-FINAL-20081019
3. poi-3.7-20101029
4. poi-examples-3.7-20101029
5. poi-ooxml-3.7-20101029
6. poi-ooxml-schemas-3.7-20101029
7. xmlbeans-2.3.0
8. dom4j-1.6.1

Code for writing in a excel file:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    //Blank workbook
    XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();

    //Create a blank sheet
    XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.createSheet("Employee Data");

    //This data needs to be written (Object[])
    Map<String, Object[]> data = new TreeMap<String, Object[]>();
    data.put("1", new Object[]{"ID", "NAME", "LASTNAME"});
    data.put("2", new Object[]{1, "Amit", "Shukla"});
    data.put("3", new Object[]{2, "Lokesh", "Gupta"});
    data.put("4", new Object[]{3, "John", "Adwards"});
    data.put("5", new Object[]{4, "Brian", "Schultz"});

    //Iterate over data and write to sheet
    Set<String> keyset = data.keySet();

    int rownum = 0;
    for (String key : keyset) 
    {
        //create a row of excelsheet
        Row row = sheet.createRow(rownum++);

        //get object array of prerticuler key
        Object[] objArr = data.get(key);

        int cellnum = 0;

        for (Object obj : objArr) 
        {
            Cell cell = row.createCell(cellnum++);
            if (obj instanceof String) 
            {
                cell.setCellValue((String) obj);
            }
            else if (obj instanceof Integer) 
            {
                cell.setCellValue((Integer) obj);
            }
        }
    }
    try 
    {
        //Write the workbook in file system
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File("C:\\Documents and Settings\\admin\\Desktop\\imp data\\howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx"));
        workbook.write(out);
        out.close();
        System.out.println("howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx written successfully on disk.");
    } 
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Code for reading from excel file

/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
        FileInputStream file = new FileInputStream(new File("C:\\Documents and Settings\\admin\\Desktop\\imp data\\howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx"));

        //Create Workbook instance holding reference to .xlsx file
        XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(file);

        //Get first/desired sheet from the workbook
        XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);

        //Iterate through each rows one by one
        Iterator<Row> rowIterator = sheet.iterator();
        while (rowIterator.hasNext())
        {
            Row row = rowIterator.next();
            //For each row, iterate through all the columns
            Iterator<Cell> cellIterator = row.cellIterator();

            while (cellIterator.hasNext()) 
            {
                Cell cell = cellIterator.next();
                //Check the cell type and format accordingly
                switch (cell.getCellType()) 
                {
                    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
                        System.out.print(cell.getNumericCellValue() + "\t");
                        break;
                    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
                        System.out.print(cell.getStringCellValue() + "\t");
                        break;
                }
            }
            System.out.println("");
        }
        file.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

You can also consider JExcelApi. I find it better designed than POI. There's a tutorial here.

There is a new easy and very cool tool (10x to Kfir): xcelite

Write:

public class User { 

  @Column (name="Firstname")
  private String firstName;

  @Column (name="Lastname")
  private String lastName;

  @Column
  private long id; 

  @Column
  private Date birthDate; 
}

Xcelite xcelite = new Xcelite();    
XceliteSheet sheet = xcelite.createSheet("users");
SheetWriter<User> writer = sheet.getBeanWriter(User.class);
List<User> users = new ArrayList<User>();
// ...fill up users
writer.write(users); 
xcelite.write(new File("users_doc.xlsx"));

Read:

Xcelite xcelite = new Xcelite(new File("users_doc.xlsx"));
XceliteSheet sheet = xcelite.getSheet("users");
SheetReader<User> reader = sheet.getBeanReader(User.class);
Collection<User> users = reader.read();

For reading a xlsx file we can use Apache POI libs Try this:

public static void readXLSXFile() throws IOException
    {
        InputStream ExcelFileToRead = new FileInputStream("C:/Test.xlsx");
        XSSFWorkbook  wb = new XSSFWorkbook(ExcelFileToRead);

        XSSFWorkbook test = new XSSFWorkbook(); 

        XSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheetAt(0);
        XSSFRow row; 
        XSSFCell cell;

        Iterator rows = sheet.rowIterator();

        while (rows.hasNext())
        {
            row=(XSSFRow) rows.next();
            Iterator cells = row.cellIterator();
            while (cells.hasNext())
            {
                cell=(XSSFCell) cells.next();

                if (cell.getCellType() == XSSFCell.CELL_TYPE_STRING)
                {
                    System.out.print(cell.getStringCellValue()+" ");
                }
                else if(cell.getCellType() == XSSFCell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC)
                {
                    System.out.print(cell.getNumericCellValue()+" ");
                }
                else
                {
                    //U Can Handel Boolean, Formula, Errors
                }
            }
            System.out.println();
        }

    }

.csv or POI will certainly do it, but you should be aware of Andy Khan's JExcel. I think it's by far the best Java library for working with Excel there is.

A simple CSV file should suffice

String path="C:\\Book2.xlsx";
try {

        File f = new File( path );
        Workbook wb = WorkbookFactory.create(f);
        Sheet mySheet = wb.getSheetAt(0);
        Iterator<Row> rowIter = mySheet.rowIterator();
        for ( Iterator<Row> rowIterator = mySheet.rowIterator() ;rowIterator.hasNext(); )
        {
            for (  Iterator<Cell> cellIterator = ((Row)rowIterator.next()).cellIterator() ; cellIterator.hasNext() ;  ) 
            {
                System.out.println ( ( (Cell)cellIterator.next() ).toString() );
            }
            System.out.println( " **************************************************************** ");
        }
    } catch ( Exception e )
    {
        System.out.println( "exception" );
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

and make sure to have added the jars poi and poi-ooxml (org.apache.poi) to your project

For reading data from .xlsx workbooks we need to use XSSFworkbook classes.

XSSFWorkbook xlsxBook = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);

XSSFSheet sheet = xlsxBook.getSheetAt(0); etc.

We need to use Apache-poi 3.9 @

For detailed info with example visit :

Sure , you will find the code below useful and easy to read and write. This is a util class which you can use in your main method and then you are good to use all methods below.

     public class ExcelUtils {
     private static XSSFSheet ExcelWSheet;
     private static XSSFWorkbook ExcelWBook;
     private static XSSFCell Cell;
     private static XSSFRow Row;
     File fileName = new File("C:\\Users\\satekuma\\Pro\\Fund.xlsx");
     public void setExcelFile(File Path, String SheetName) throws Exception                

    try {
        FileInputStream ExcelFile = new FileInputStream(Path);
        ExcelWBook = new XSSFWorkbook(ExcelFile);
        ExcelWSheet = ExcelWBook.getSheet(SheetName);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw (e);
    }

}


      public static String getCellData(int RowNum, int ColNum) throws Exception {

    try {
        Cell = ExcelWSheet.getRow(RowNum).getCell(ColNum);
        String CellData = Cell.getStringCellValue();
        return CellData;
    } catch (Exception e) {

        return "";

    }

}
public static void setCellData(String Result, int RowNum, int ColNum, File Path) throws Exception {

    try {
        Row = ExcelWSheet.createRow(RowNum - 1);
        Cell = Row.createCell(ColNum - 1);
        Cell.setCellValue(Result);
        FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream(Path);
        ExcelWBook.write(fileOut);
        fileOut.flush();
        fileOut.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {

        throw (e);

    }

}

}

using spring apache poi repo

if (fileName.endsWith(".xls")) {



File myFile = new File("file location" + fileName);
                FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(myFile);

                org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Workbook workbook = null;
                try {
                    workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(fis);
                } catch (InvalidFormatException e) {

                    e.printStackTrace();
                }


                org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Sheet sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);


                Iterator<Row> rowIterator = sheet.iterator();


                while (rowIterator.hasNext()) {
                    Row row = rowIterator.next();

                    Iterator<Cell> cellIterator = row.cellIterator();
                    while (cellIterator.hasNext()) {

                        Cell cell = cellIterator.next();
                        switch (cell.getCellType()) {
                        case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
                            System.out.print(cell.getStringCellValue());
                            break;
                        case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BOOLEAN:
                            System.out.print(cell.getBooleanCellValue());
                            break;
                        case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
                            System.out.print(cell.getNumericCellValue());
                            break;
                        }
                        System.out.print(" - ");
                    }
                    System.out.println();
                }
            }

I edited the most voted one a little cuz it didn't count blanks columns or rows well not totally, so here is my code i tested it and now can get any cell in any part of an excel file. also now u can have blanks columns between filled column and it will read them

  try {
POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(new FileInputStream(Dir));
HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook(fs);
HSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheetAt(0);
HSSFRow row;
HSSFCell cell;

int rows; // No of rows
rows = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();

int cols = 0; // No of columns
int tmp = 0;
int cblacks=0;

// This trick ensures that we get the data properly even if it doesn't start from first few rows
for(int i = 0; i <= 10 || i <= rows; i++) {
    row = sheet.getRow(i);
    if(row != null) {
        tmp = sheet.getRow(i).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();
        if(tmp >= cols) cols = tmp;else{rows++;cblacks++;}
    }

    cols++;
}
cols=cols+cblacks;
for(int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
    row = sheet.getRow(r);
    if(row != null) {
        for(int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
            cell = row.getCell(c);
            if(cell != null) {
                System.out.print(cell+"\n");//Your Code here
            }
        }
    }
}} catch(Exception ioe) {
ioe.printStackTrace();}

If column number are varing you can use this

package com.org.tests;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.*;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

public class ExcelSimpleTest 
{   
    String path;
    public FileInputStream fis = null;
    private XSSFWorkbook workbook = null;
    private XSSFSheet sheet = null;
    private XSSFRow row   =null;
    private XSSFCell cell = null;

    public ExcelSimpleTest() throws IOException
    {
        path = System.getProperty("user.dir")+"\\resources\\Book1.xlsx";
        fis = new FileInputStream(path); 
        workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);
        sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);
    }
    public void ExelWorks()
    {
        int index = workbook.getSheetIndex("Sheet1");
        sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(index);
        int rownumber=sheet.getLastRowNum()+1;  

        for (int i=1; i<rownumber; i++ )
        {
            row = sheet.getRow(i);
            int colnumber = row.getLastCellNum();
            for (int j=0; j<colnumber; j++ )
            {
                cell = row.getCell(j);
                System.out.println(cell.getStringCellValue());
            }
        }
    }   
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException 
    {
        ExcelSimpleTest excelwork = new ExcelSimpleTest();
        excelwork.ExelWorks();
    }
}

The corresponding mavendependency can be found here

Another way to read/write Excel files is to use Windmill. It provides a fluent API to process Excel and CSV files.

Import data

try (Stream<Row> rowStream = Windmill.parse(FileSource.of(new FileInputStream("myFile.xlsx")))) {
  rowStream
    // skip the header row that contains the column names
    .skip(1)
    .forEach(row -> {
      System.out.println(
        "row n°" + row.rowIndex()
        + " column 'User login' value : " + row.cell("User login").asString()
        + " column n°3 number value : " + row.cell(2).asDouble().value() // index is zero-based
      );
    });
}