Export to CSV using jQuery and HTML

Demo

See below for an explanation.

$(document).ready(function() {

  function exportTableToCSV($table, filename) {

    var $rows = $table.find('tr:has(td)'),

      // Temporary delimiter characters unlikely to be typed by keyboard
      // This is to avoid accidentally splitting the actual contents
      tmpColDelim = String.fromCharCode(11), // vertical tab character
      tmpRowDelim = String.fromCharCode(0), // null character

      // actual delimiter characters for CSV format
      colDelim = '","',
      rowDelim = '"\r\n"',

      // Grab text from table into CSV formatted string
      csv = '"' + $rows.map(function(i, row) {
        var $row = $(row),
          $cols = $row.find('td');

        return $cols.map(function(j, col) {
          var $col = $(col),
            text = $col.text();

          return text.replace(/"/g, '""'); // escape double quotes

        }).get().join(tmpColDelim);

      }).get().join(tmpRowDelim)
      .split(tmpRowDelim).join(rowDelim)
      .split(tmpColDelim).join(colDelim) + '"';

    // Deliberate 'false', see comment below
    if (false && window.navigator.msSaveBlob) {

      var blob = new Blob([decodeURIComponent(csv)], {
        type: 'text/csv;charset=utf8'
      });

      // Crashes in IE 10, IE 11 and Microsoft Edge
      // See MS Edge Issue #10396033
      // Hence, the deliberate 'false'
      // This is here just for completeness
      // Remove the 'false' at your own risk
      window.navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, filename);

    } else if (window.Blob && window.URL) {
      // HTML5 Blob        
      var blob = new Blob([csv], {
        type: 'text/csv;charset=utf-8'
      });
      var csvUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

      $(this)
        .attr({
          'download': filename,
          'href': csvUrl
        });
    } else {
      // Data URI
      var csvData="data:application/csv;charset=utf-8," + encodeURIComponent(csv);

      $(this)
        .attr({
          'download': filename,
          'href': csvData,
          'target': '_blank'
        });
    }
  }

  // This must be a hyperlink
  $(".export").on('click', function(event) {
    // CSV
    var args = [$('#dvData>table'), 'export.csv'];

    exportTableToCSV.apply(this, args);

    // If CSV, don't do event.preventDefault() or return false
    // We actually need this to be a typical hyperlink
  });
});
a.export,
a.export:visited {
  display: inline-block;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: #000;
  background-color: #ddd;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 8px;
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<a href="#" class="export">Export Table data into Excel</a>
<div id="dvData">
  <table>
    <tr>
      <th>Column One</th>
      <th>Column Two</th>
      <th>Column Three</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row1 Col1</td>
      <td>row1 Col2</td>
      <td>row1 Col3</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row2 Col1</td>
      <td>row2 Col2</td>
      <td>row2 Col3</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row3 Col1</td>
      <td>row3 Col2</td>
      <td>row3 Col3</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row4 'Col1'</td>
      <td>row4 'Col2'</td>
      <td>row4 'Col3'</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row5 &quot;Col1&quot;</td>
      <td>row5 &quot;Col2&quot;</td>
      <td>row5 &quot;Col3&quot;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>row6 "Col1"</td>
      <td>row6 "Col2"</td>
      <td>row6 "Col3"</td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</div>

As of 2017

Now uses HTML5 Blob and URL as the preferred method with Data URI as a fallback.

On Internet Explorer

Other answers suggest window.navigator.msSaveBlob; however, it is known to crash IE10/Window 7 and IE11/Windows 10. Whether it works using Microsoft Edge is dubious (see Microsoft Edge issue ticket #10396033).

Merely calling this in Microsoft’s own Developer Tools / Console causes the browser to crash:

navigator.msSaveBlob(new Blob(["hello"], {type: "text/plain"}), "test.txt");


Four years after my first answer, new IE versions include IE10, IE11, and Edge. They all crash on a function that Microsoft invented (slow clap).

Add navigator.msSaveBlob support at your own risk.


As of 2013

Typically this would be performed using a server-side solution, but this is my attempt at a client-side solution. Simply dumping HTML as a Data URI will not work, but is a helpful step. So:

  1. Convert the table contents into a valid CSV formatted string. (This is the easy part.)
  2. Force the browser to download it. The window.open approach would not work in Firefox, so I used <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16078544/{Data URI here}">.
  3. Assign a default file name using the <a> tag’s download attribute, which only works in Firefox and Google Chrome. Since it is just an attribute, it degrades gracefully.

Notes

Compatibility

Browsers testing includes:

  • Firefox 20+, Win/Mac (works)
  • Google Chrome 26+, Win/Mac (works)
  • Safari 6, Mac (works, but filename is ignored)
  • IE 9+ (fails)

Content Encoding

The CSV is exported correctly, but when imported into Excel, the character ü is printed out as ä. Excel interprets the value incorrectly.

Introduce var csv = '\ufeff'; and then Excel 2013+ interprets the values correctly.

If you need compatibility with Excel 2007, add UTF-8 prefixes at each data value. See also:

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