{"id":24850,"library":"xlrd2","title":"xlrd2","description":"Library for developers to extract data from Microsoft Excel legacy spreadsheet files (.xls). Version 1.3.4 supports Python 2.7 and 3.4+. It is a maintained fork of the original xlrd, which dropped .xls support in version 2.0. Releases are infrequent.","status":"active","version":"1.3.4","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/python-openpyxl/xlrd2","tags":["xls","excel","legacy","spreadsheet","xlrd"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install xlrd2","lang":"bash","label":"Install with pip"}],"dependencies":[],"imports":[{"note":"The package name differs from the import name. Despite installing xlrd2, you import as xlrd.","wrong":"import xlrd2","symbol":"xlrd","correct":"import xlrd"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import xlrd\n\nworkbook = xlrd.open_workbook('example.xls')\nsheet = workbook.sheet_by_index(0)\nprint(sheet.cell_value(0, 0))","lang":"python","description":"Open an .xls file and read a cell value."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Use 'import xlrd'.","message":"Import as xlrd, not xlrd2. The import name is xlrd even though the package is installed as xlrd2.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"If you need .xls support, use xlrd2 instead of xlrd 2.0+.","message":"xlrd (original) dropped .xls support in version 2.0. xlrd2 is the maintained fork that continues to support .xls files.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"xlrd >= 2.0.0"},{"fix":"Use openpyxl or pandas for .xlsx files.","message":"xlrd2 does not support .xlsx files. For .xlsx, use openpyxl or pandas.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"all"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-05-01T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Use 'import xlrd' after installing xlrd2.","cause":"Trying to import xlrd2 instead of xlrd.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'xlrd2'"},{"fix":"Run 'pip install xlrd2'.","cause":"Package not installed, or using Python environment where xlrd2 is not installed.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'xlrd'"}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}