PyExcel

0.7.4 · active · verified Fri Apr 10

PyExcel is a wrapper library that provides a unified API to read, manipulate, and write data in various Excel formats such as CSV, XLS, XLSX, and ODS. It focuses purely on data processing, enabling easy conversion of Excel data into Python arrays or dictionaries and vice versa, without supporting features like fonts, colors, or charts. The library is actively maintained, with frequent minor releases.

Warnings

breaking Python 2 compatibility was permanently removed in v0.6.3.
Fix: Upgrade to Python 3.6 or newer. For older Python 3 versions, ensure pyexcel-io and its plugins are below v0.6.0.
breaking Explicit imports like `import pyexcel.ext.*` were removed. PyExcel now auto-loads installed plugins.
Fix: Remove all `import pyexcel.ext.*` statements. Simply ensure the relevant `pyexcel-xxx` plugin library is installed (e.g., `pip install pyexcel-xlsx`).
gotcha PyExcel explicitly does NOT support fonts, styles, formulas, or charts. Saving an Excel file will strip these elements.
Fix: Be aware that only raw data is preserved. If styling or advanced Excel features are critical, PyExcel is not the right tool.
gotcha Core `pyexcel` only handles CSV and TSV natively. Support for other formats (XLS, XLSX, ODS, etc.) requires installing additional `pyexcel-xxx` plugin libraries.
Fix: Install the specific plugin for your target format (e.g., `pip install pyexcel-xlsx` for .xlsx files, `pip install pyexcel-xls` for .xls files).
gotcha If multiple plugins are installed for the same file format (e.g., `pyexcel-ods` and `pyexcel-ods3`), you may need to explicitly specify which plugin to use.
Fix: Use the `library='plugin_name'` parameter in functions like `get_array`, `save_as`, etc., e.g., `pyexcel.get_sheet(file_name='my.ods', library='pyexcel-ods3')`.

Install

pip install pyexcel Install core library
pip install pyexcel-xls pyexcel-xlsx pyexcel-ods3 Install common format plugins

Imports

pyexcel
```
import pyexcel
```
Explicit format extension imports were deprecated in v0.2.2 and removed in v0.7.0. PyExcel auto-loads installed plugins.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to write a Python dictionary to a multi-sheet Excel file and then read it back into a sheet object and a book dictionary. It assumes the necessary format-specific plugins (like `pyexcel-xlsx`) are installed.

import pyexcel
from collections import OrderedDict

# --- Writing data to an Excel file (e.g., 'your_file.xlsx') ---
data = OrderedDict()
data.update({"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]})
data.update({"Sheet 2": [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e', 'f']]})

# Ensure pyexcel-xlsx is installed: pip install pyexcel-xlsx
pyexcel.save_book_as(bookdict=data, dest_file_name="your_file.xlsx")
print("Data written to your_file.xlsx")

# --- Reading data from an Excel file ---
# Ensure pyexcel-xlsx is installed: pip install pyexcel-xlsx
sheet = pyexcel.get_sheet(file_name="your_file.xlsx")
print(f"Content of Sheet 1 (as array): {sheet.array}")

# You can also get the whole book as a dictionary of sheets
book_dict = pyexcel.get_book_dict(file_name="your_file.xlsx")
print(f"Content of the entire book: {book_dict}")

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