Using Laravel FastExcel for Efficient Import and Export of Large Datasets

This article introduces the Laravel FastExcel component, a lightweight, memory‑efficient alternative to Laravel Excel for fast import and export of data files.

Installation

composer require rap2hpoutre/fast-excel

Basic Export

You can export a collection or model directly to XLSX, CSV, or ODS:

fastexcel($collection)->export('file.xlsx');

Using Generators for Large Datasets

Generators allow row‑by‑row processing without loading the entire dataset into memory:

function usersGenerator() {
    foreach (User::cursor() as $user) {
        yield $user;
    }
}
$users = usersGenerator();
foreach ($users as $user) {
    // process each $user
}

Exporting with a generator consumes only a few megabytes even for millions of rows:

$users = usersGenerator();
fastexcel($users)->export('test.xlsx');

Importing Data

$collection = (new FastExcel)->import('file.xlsx');

Importing CSV with custom configuration:

$collection = (new FastExcel)
    ->configureCsv(',', '#', "\n", 'gbk')
    ->import('file.csv');

Facade Registration

'providers' => [
    // ...
    'FastExcel' => Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\Facades\FastExcel::class,
],

Facade usage example:

FastExcel::data($list)->export('file.xlsx');

Global Helper

$sheets = new SheetCollection([User::all(), Project::all()]);
(new FastExcel($sheets))->export('file.xlsx');

Performance Considerations

FastExcel processes rows one at a time, minimizing memory usage, but the operation can be time‑consuming; ensure the PHP max_execution_time limit is sufficient or use queues or asynchronous techniques for very large exports.

Overall, FastExcel enables Laravel developers to handle massive data imports and exports with just a few lines of code while keeping memory consumption low.