writing to existing workbook using xlwt [closed]

Question

I am unable to find examples where xlwt is used to write into existing files. I have a existing xls file that I need to write to. When I use xlrd to read the file, I cant seem to figure out how to transform the "Book" type returned into a xlwt.Workbook. I would appreciate if someone can point me to an example.

Answer 1

I am unable to find examples where xlwt is used to write into existing files.

There are no examples. It is not possible. Not with xlwt, nor with any other software. The XLS file structure is complicated, and doesn't act like a database to which you can append rows in a table of your choice.

Whatever software you use has to make like a user with a copy of Excel and a keyboard: (1) "open the file" i.e. load the contents into memory (2) manipulate the in-memory information (3) "save" (which blows away the existing file and replaces it with a new file) or "save as" (which writes a new file and leaves the existing file unchanged).

I told you this about 12 hours ago but here it is again:

Visit this summary site.

Points of interest:

1. xlutils package

2. tutorial on xlrd, xlwt, and xlutils ... contains examples

3. google-group / mailing-list for asking questions like this (helps to have worked through the tutorial first)

Answer 2

I had the same problem. My customer ordered me Python 3.4 script that updates XLS (not XLSX) Excel files.

The 1st package xlrd was installed by "pip install" without problems in my Python home.

The 2nd one xlwt needed to say "pip install xlwt-future" to be compatible.

The 3rd one xlutils has no support for Python 3, but I adapted it a little bit and now it works at least for dummy script:

#!C:\Python343\python
from xlutils.copy import copy # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlutils
from xlrd import open_workbook # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlrd
from xlwt import easyxf # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlwt

file_path = 'C:\Dev\Test_upd.xls'
rb = open_workbook('C:\Dev\Test.xls',formatting_info=True)
r_sheet = rb.sheet_by_index(0) # read only copy to introspect the file
wb = copy(rb) # a writable copy (I can't read values out of this, only write to it)
w_sheet = wb.get_sheet(0) # the sheet to write to within the writable copy
w_sheet.write(1, 1, 'Value')
wb.save(file_path)

I attached the file here: http://ifolder.su/43507580

Write to [e-mail] if it got expired.

P.S.: Some functions are not called in the dummy example, so maybe they will need for an adaptation also. Who wants to do it, fix exceptions one-by-one with a google help. It's not a very difficult task, because the package code is small...

Answer 3

You need xlutils.copy. Try something like this:

from xlutils.copy import copy
w = copy('book1.xls')
w.get_sheet(0).write(0,0,"foo")
w.save('book2.xls')

Keep in mind you can't overwrite cells by default as noted in this question.

Answer 4

The code example is exactly this:

from xlutils.copy import copy
from xlrd import *
w = copy(open_workbook('book1.xls'))
w.get_sheet(0).write(0,0,"foo")
w.save('book2.xls')

You'll need to create book1.xls to test, but you get the idea.

Answer 5

I openpyxl

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import openpyxl
file = 'sample.xlsx'
wb = openpyxl.load_workbook(filename=file)
# Seleciono la Hoja
ws = wb.get_sheet_by_name('Hoja1')
# Valores a Insertar
ws['A3'] = 42
ws['A4'] = 142
# Escribirmos en el Fichero
wb.save(file)

Answer 6

Here's some sample code I used recently to do just that.

It opens a workbook, goes down the rows, if a condition is met it writes some data in the row. Finally it saves the modified file.

from xlutils.copy import copy # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlutils
from xlrd import open_workbook # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlrd
from xlwt import easyxf # http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlwt

START_ROW = 297 # 0 based (subtract 1 from excel row number)
col_age_november = 1
col_summer1 = 2
col_fall1 = 3

rb = open_workbook(file_path,formatting_info=True)
r_sheet = rb.sheet_by_index(0) # read only copy to introspect the file
wb = copy(rb) # a writable copy (I can't read values out of this, only write to it)
w_sheet = wb.get_sheet(0) # the sheet to write to within the writable copy

for row_index in range(START_ROW, r_sheet.nrows):
    age_nov = r_sheet.cell(row_index, col_age_november).value
    if age_nov == 3:
        #If 3, then Combo I 3-4 year old  for both summer1 and fall1
        w_sheet.write(row_index, col_summer1, 'Combo I 3-4 year old')
        w_sheet.write(row_index, col_fall1, 'Combo I 3-4 year old')

wb.save(file_path + '.out' + os.path.splitext(file_path)[-1])