Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl

sanPerl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks,

I am using use Spreadsheet::XLSX. I am trying to capture character "Alt+Enter" in CSV file and trying to convert it to space

$mycell_value = $excel_sheet_cell -> {Val};
$mycell_value=~ s/\n+/ /gs;
[download]

where $excel_sheet_cell -> {Val} contains value in cell. This is still Not working. THe CSV file , if it is opened in Excel, it still shows Newlines in cell. Can someone kindly help.

Update: I am using $mycell_value variable to output in CSV (and Not $excel_sheet_cell -> {Val})

I guess some monks have mis-understood the question. They have interpreted that I want to put Alt+Enter character in CSV. But the requirement is reverse.

I already have an Excel file (as input) which contains a cell having Enter character. This character is entered by some user, using 'Alt+Enter' key combination. Now I want to convert this Enter character (or 'Alt+Enter' char) to space. This is what is Not happening and I am getting CSV file with Enter character (which is spoiling structure of CSV). Thank, SanPerl

Comment on Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl Select or Download Code

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Re: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by Corion (Patriarch) on May 19, 2014 at 08:19 UTC
Have you inspected what bytes are in that cell? `$Data::Dumper::Useqq= 1; print Dumper $mycell_value;` [download] Most likely, the character is not `\n` but `\r\n` or something like it.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by Bloodnok (Vicar) on May 19, 2014 at 10:34 UTC
Strictly speaking, there is no <Alt> character per se, the <Alt> and indeed <Ctrl>, keys are modifiers in as much as the actual character typed is modified to a different ASCII value, so you should refer to the wisdom forwarded by other monks WRT establishing the actual data values that the <Alt> & <Ctrl> keys generate. A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))	[reply]
Re: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by Anonymous Monk on May 19, 2014 at 08:16 UTC
What is "alt+Enter" character? use `Data::Dump::dd( $mystery_data )` to find out, then with appropriate quotemeta s///ubstitute it	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by sanPerl (Friar) on May 20, 2014 at 19:57 UTC
Thanks dear monk, alt+enter is a key combination which any user can use and add a 'newline' in Excel cell.	[reply]
Re: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by hdb (Monsignor) on May 19, 2014 at 08:41 UTC
In the two lines you show us, you do not modify the cell at all. You read the value from the cell, you modify that value, but nowhere you put it back into the cell. Can you show that line as well please?	[reply]
Re: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by leuchuk (Novice) on May 20, 2014 at 13:51 UTC
Do I understand it right? You want to output somehow that alt+enter in a CSV file? Somehow having a line break in an Excel cell, don't you? If my assumption is correct the answer is simple: It's not possible. CSV doesn't allow any formatting. An "enter" will destroy the structure of a CSV file because Enter is the symbol for line end. If you want to have the cell format you should output some sort of Excel format, preferrably XLSX.	[reply]
Re^2: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by choroba (Cardinal) on May 20, 2014 at 14:37 UTC
That is not true. You can have newlines in strings in CSV if the strings are properly quoted. لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ	[reply]
Re^2: Trying to capture Alt characer in Perl by sanPerl (Friar) on May 20, 2014 at 19:36 UTC
No , I already have an Excel file (as input) which contains a cell having Enter character. This character is entered by some user, using 'Alt+Enter' key combination. Now I want to convert this Enter character (or 'Alt+Enter' char) to space. This is what is Not happening and I am getting CSV file with Enter character retained (which is spoiling structure of CSV). BTW, thanks a lot for your interest.	[reply]


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