Core concepts

Fluent and Terminal Methods

Understand which reading calls keep configuring a ReadSession and which calls execute work and return generators, arrays, counts, rows, or cell values.

Updated July 30, 2026

Full packageIndividual packagesReadSession

LevelBeginnerReading time9 minPackagemnb/mnb-phpexcel or a format package

ReadSession::sheet()ReadSession::withHeaderRow()ReadSession::withOptions()ReadSession::rows()ReadSession::toArray()ReadSession::first()

What you will learn

Keep configuration calls on a read session.
Recognize the call that executes reading and changes the return type.
Avoid calling session methods on native arrays or generators.

Fluent methods keep building the session#

$session = MnbExcel::read('orders.xlsx')
    ->sheet('Orders')
    ->withHeaderRow(1)
    ->selectColumns(['Order ID', 'Customer'])
    ->withOptions(['skip_empty_rows' => true]);

Returns: ReadSession
Reads rows immediately: No. These calls define what later terminal operations will read.
Safe to continue chaining: Yes.
Examples: sheet(), withHeaderRow(), selectColumns(), withOptions(), skip(), limit().

Terminal methods execute work and return another type#

Method	Returns	Use it when
`rows()`	`Generator`	You want forward-only row processing.
`toArray()`	`array`	You need all returned rows in memory.
`first()`	`?array`	You need only the first normalized data row.
`countRows()`	`int`	You need the final normalized row count.
`hasRows()`	`bool`	You only need to know whether data exists.
`toStructuredSheetArray()`	`array`	You need rows plus source, empty, header, and returned-row counts.
`cell("B2")`	`mixed`	You need one direct worksheet coordinate.

Correct and incorrect chaining#

$data = $session->toArray();
$data->rows();

$data = $session->toArray();

foreach ($data as $row) {
    print_r($row);
}

foreach ($session->rows() as $row) {
    print_r($row);
}

Avoid accidental repeated passes#

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