Installation
Install openpyxl using pip. It is advisable to do this in a Python virtualenvwithout system packages:
$ pip install openpyxl
Note
There is support for the popular lxml library which will be used if itis installed. This is particular useful when creating large files.
Warning
To be able to include images (jpeg, png, bmp,…) into an openpyxl file,you will also need the “pillow” library that can be installed with:
$ pip install pillow
or browse https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/, pick the latest versionand head to the bottom of the page for Windows binaries.
Working with a checkout
Sometimes you might want to work with the checkout of a particular version.This may be the case if bugs have been fixed but a release has not yet beenmade.
$ pip install -e hg+https://foss.heptapod.net/openpyxl/openpyxl/@3.1#egg=openpyxl
Create a workbook
There is no need to create a file on the filesystem to get started with openpyxl.Just import the Workbook class and start work:
>>> from openpyxl import Workbook>>> wb = Workbook()
A workbook is always created with at least one worksheet. You can get it byusing the Workbook.active property:
>>> ws = wb.active
Note
This is set to 0 by default. Unless you modify its value, you will alwaysget the first worksheet by using this method.
You can create new worksheets using the Workbook.create_sheet() method:
>>> ws1 = wb.create_sheet("Mysheet") # insert at the end (default)# or>>> ws2 = wb.create_sheet("Mysheet", 0) # insert at first position# or>>> ws3 = wb.create_sheet("Mysheet", -1) # insert at the penultimate position
Sheets are given a name automatically when they are created.They are numbered in sequence (Sheet, Sheet1, Sheet2, …).You can change this name at any time with the Worksheet.title property:
ws.title = "New Title"
Once you gave a worksheet a name, you can get it as a key of the workbook:
>>> ws3 = wb["New Title"]
You can review the names of all worksheets of the workbook with theWorkbook.sheetname attribute
>>> print(wb.sheetnames)['Sheet2', 'New Title', 'Sheet1']
You can loop through worksheets
>>> for sheet in wb:... print(sheet.title)
You can create copies of worksheets within a single workbook:
Workbook.copy_worksheet() method:
>>> source = wb.active>>> target = wb.copy_worksheet(source)
Note
Only cells (including values, styles, hyperlinks and comments) andcertain worksheet attributes (including dimensions, format andproperties) are copied. All other workbook / worksheet attributesare not copied - e.g. Images, Charts.
You also cannot copy worksheets between workbooks. You cannot copya worksheet if the workbook is open in read-only or write-onlymode.
Playing with data
Accessing one cell
Now we know how to get a worksheet, we can start modifying cells content.Cells can be accessed directly as keys of the worksheet:
>>> c = ws['A4']
This will return the cell at A4, or create one if it does not exist yet.Values can be directly assigned:
>>> ws['A4'] = 4
There is also the Worksheet.cell() method.
This provides access to cells using row and column notation:
>>> d = ws.cell(row=4, column=2, value=10)
Note
When a worksheet is created in memory, it contains no cells. They arecreated when first accessed.
Warning
Because of this feature, scrolling through cells instead of accessing themdirectly will create them all in memory, even if you don’t assign them a value.
Something like
>>> for x in range(1,101):... for y in range(1,101):... ws.cell(row=x, column=y)
will create 100x100 cells in memory, for nothing.
Accessing many cells
Ranges of cells can be accessed using slicing:
>>> cell_range = ws['A1':'C2']
Ranges of rows or columns can be obtained similarly:
>>> colC = ws['C']>>> col_range = ws['C:D']>>> row10 = ws[10]>>> row_range = ws[5:10]
You can also use the Worksheet.iter_rows() method:
>>> for row in ws.iter_rows(min_row=1, max_col=3, max_row=2):... for cell in row:... print(cell)<Cell Sheet1.A1><Cell Sheet1.B1><Cell Sheet1.C1><Cell Sheet1.A2><Cell Sheet1.B2><Cell Sheet1.C2>
Likewise the Worksheet.iter_cols() method will return columns:
>>> for col in ws.iter_cols(min_row=1, max_col=3, max_row=2):... for cell in col:... print(cell)<Cell Sheet1.A1><Cell Sheet1.A2><Cell Sheet1.B1><Cell Sheet1.B2><Cell Sheet1.C1><Cell Sheet1.C2>
Note
For performance reasons the Worksheet.iter_cols() method is not available in read-only mode.
If you need to iterate through all the rows or columns of a file, you can instead use theWorksheet.rows property:
>>> ws = wb.active>>> ws['C9'] = 'hello world'>>> tuple(ws.rows)((<Cell Sheet.A1>, <Cell Sheet.B1>, <Cell Sheet.C1>),(<Cell Sheet.A2>, <Cell Sheet.B2>, <Cell Sheet.C2>),(<Cell Sheet.A3>, <Cell Sheet.B3>, <Cell Sheet.C3>),(<Cell Sheet.A4>, <Cell Sheet.B4>, <Cell Sheet.C4>),(<Cell Sheet.A5>, <Cell Sheet.B5>, <Cell Sheet.C5>),(<Cell Sheet.A6>, <Cell Sheet.B6>, <Cell Sheet.C6>),(<Cell Sheet.A7>, <Cell Sheet.B7>, <Cell Sheet.C7>),(<Cell Sheet.A8>, <Cell Sheet.B8>, <Cell Sheet.C8>),(<Cell Sheet.A9>, <Cell Sheet.B9>, <Cell Sheet.C9>))
or the Worksheet.columns property:
>>> tuple(ws.columns)((<Cell Sheet.A1>,<Cell Sheet.A2>,<Cell Sheet.A3>,<Cell Sheet.A4>,<Cell Sheet.A5>,<Cell Sheet.A6>,...<Cell Sheet.B7>,<Cell Sheet.B8>,<Cell Sheet.B9>),(<Cell Sheet.C1>,<Cell Sheet.C2>,<Cell Sheet.C3>,<Cell Sheet.C4>,<Cell Sheet.C5>,<Cell Sheet.C6>,<Cell Sheet.C7>,<Cell Sheet.C8>,<Cell Sheet.C9>))
Note
For performance reasons the Worksheet.columns property is not available in read-only mode.
Values only
If you just want the values from a worksheet you can use the Worksheet.values property.This iterates over all the rows in a worksheet but returns just the cell values:
for row in ws.values: for value in row: print(value)
Both Worksheet.iter_rows() and Worksheet.iter_cols() cantake the values_only parameter to return just the cell’s value:
>>> for row in ws.iter_rows(min_row=1, max_col=3, max_row=2, values_only=True):... print(row)(None, None, None)(None, None, None)
Data storage
Once we have a Cell, we can assign it a value:
>>> c.value = 'hello, world'>>> print(c.value)'hello, world'>>> d.value = 3.14>>> print(d.value)3.14
Saving to a file
The simplest and safest way to save a workbook is by using theWorkbook.save() method of the Workbook object:
>>> wb = Workbook()>>> wb.save('balances.xlsx')
Warning
This operation will overwrite existing files without warning.
Note
The filename extension is not forced to be xlsx or xlsm, although you might havesome trouble opening it directly with another application if you don’tuse an official extension.
As OOXML files are basically ZIP files, you can also open it with yourfavourite ZIP archive manager.
If required, you can specify the attribute wb.template=True, to save a workbookas a template:
>>> wb = load_workbook('document.xlsx')>>> wb.template = True>>> wb.save('document_template.xltx')
Saving as a stream
If you want to save the file to a stream, e.g. when using a web applicationsuch as Pyramid, Flask or Django then you can simply provide aNamedTemporaryFile():
>>> from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile>>> from openpyxl import Workbook>>> wb = Workbook()>>> with NamedTemporaryFile() as tmp: wb.save(tmp.name) tmp.seek(0) stream = tmp.read()
Warning
You should monitor the data attributes and document extensionsfor saving documents in the document templates and vice versa,otherwise the result table engine can not open the document.
Note
The following will fail:
>>> wb = load_workbook('document.xlsx')>>> # Need to save with the extension *.xlsx>>> wb.save('new_document.xlsm')>>> # MS Excel can't open the document>>>>>> # or>>>>>> # Need specify attribute keep_vba=True>>> wb = load_workbook('document.xlsm')>>> wb.save('new_document.xlsm')>>> # MS Excel will not open the document>>>>>> # or>>>>>> wb = load_workbook('document.xltm', keep_vba=True)>>> # If we need a template document, then we must specify extension as *.xltm.>>> wb.save('new_document.xlsm')>>> # MS Excel will not open the document
Loading from a file
You can use the openpyxl.load_workbook() to open an existing workbook:
>>> from openpyxl import load_workbook>>> wb = load_workbook(filename = 'empty_book.xlsx')>>> sheet_ranges = wb['range names']>>> print(sheet_ranges['D18'].value)3
Note
There are several flags that can be used in load_workbook.
- data_only controls whether cells with formulae have either the
formula (default) or the value stored the last time Excel read the sheet.
- keep_vba controls whether any Visual Basic elements are preserved or
not (default). If they are preserved they are still not editable.
- read-only opens workbooks in a read-only mode. This uses much less
memory and is faster but not all features are available (charts, images,etc.)
- rich_text controls whether any rich-text formatting in cells is
preserved. The default is False.
- keep_links controls whether data cached from external workbooks is
preserved.
Warning
openpyxl does currently not read all possible items in an Excel file soshapes will be lost from existing files if they are opened and saved withthe same name.
Errors loading workbooks
Sometimes openpyxl will fail to open a workbook. This is usually because there is something wrong with the file.If this is the case then openpyxl will try and provide some more information. Openpyxl follows the OOXML specification closely and will reject files that do not because they are invalid. When this happens you can use the exception from openpyxl to inform the developers of whichever application or library produced the file. As the OOXML specification is publicly available it is important that developers follow it.
You can find the spec by searching for ECMA-376, most of the implementation specifics are in Part 4.
This ends the tutorial for now, you can proceed to the Simple usage section
