Working with Excel files in Python

Here's a simple guide to accessing Excel files with Python. I'm working with Python 2.7 here.

First in Windows command prompt, in the directory containing your Python scripts (see for example, C:\Python27\Scripts), run two modules:

pip install xlrd

pip install xlwt

Then in the IDLE (Python GUI) program enter the below script.

1. Import the xlrd module

>>> import xlrd

2. open the workbook

>>> book = xlrd.open_workbook("C:\FooFolder\python\BattingPost.xls")

3. designate the worksheet you want to work with

>>> sheet = book.sheet_by_name("BattingPost")

4. to pull data from a particular cell, assign a name to the cell.

>>> playerid = sheet.cell_value(2,2)

5. the value of the assigned name can be displayed by using the print command.

>>> print playerid

>>> import xlrd >>> book = xlrd.open_workbook("C:\FooFolder\python\BattingPost.xls") >>> sheet = book.sheet_by_name("BattingPost") >>> playerid = sheet.cell_value(2,2) >>> print playerid bradyst01

This is a view of the spreadsheet I pulled data from.