Python to delete a row in excel spreadsheet

Question

I have a really large excel file and i need to delete about 20,000 rows, contingent on meeting a simple condition and excel won't let me delete such a complex range when using a filter. The condition is:

If the first column contains the value, X, then I need to be able to delete the entire row.

I'm trying to automate this using python and xlwt, but am not quite sure where to start. Seeking some code snippits to get me started... Grateful for any help that's out there!

Answer 1

Don't delete. Just copy what you need.

1. read the original file
2. open a new file
3. iterate over rows of the original file (if the first column of the row does not contain the value X, add this row to the new file)
4. close both files
5. rename the new file into the original file

Answer 2

You can try using the csv reader:

http://docs.python.org/library/csv.html

Answer 3

I like using COM objects for this kind of fun:

import win32com.client
from win32com.client import constants

f = r"h:\Python\Examples\test.xls"
DELETE_THIS = "X"

exc = win32com.client.gencache.EnsureDispatch("Excel.Application")
exc.Visible = 1
exc.Workbooks.Open(Filename=f)

row = 1
while True:
    exc.Range("B%d" % row).Select()
    data = exc.ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1
    exc.Range("A%d" % row).Select()
    condition = exc.ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1

    if data == '':
        break
    elif condition == DELETE_THIS:
        exc.Rows("%d:%d" % (row, row)).Select()
        exc.Selection.Delete(Shift=constants.xlUp)
    else:
        row += 1

# Before
# 
#      a
#      b
# X    c
#      d
#      e
# X    d
#      g
#        

# After
#
#      a
#      b
#      d
#      e
#      g

I usually record snippets of Excel macros and glue them together with Python as I dislike Visual Basic :-D.

Answer 4

You can use,

sh.Range(sh.Cells(1,1),sh.Cells(20000,1)).EntireRow.Delete()

will delete rows 1 to 20,000 in an open Excel spreadsheet so,

if sh.Cells(1,1).Value == 'X':

   sh.Cells(1,1).EntireRow.Delete()

Answer 5

If you just need to delete the data (rather than 'getting rid of' the row, ie it shifts rows) you can try using my module, PyWorkbooks. You can get the most recent version here:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pyworkbooks/

There is a pdf tutorial to guide you through how to use it. Happy coding!

Answer 6

I have achieved this using Pandas package....

import pandas as pd

#Read from Excel
xl= pd.ExcelFile("test.xls")

#Parsing Excel Sheet to DataFrame
dfs = xl.parse(xl.sheet_names[0])

#Update DataFrame as per requirement
#(Here Removing the row from DataFrame having blank value in "Name" column)

dfs = dfs[dfs['Name'] != '']

#Updating the excel sheet with the updated DataFrame

dfs.to_excel("test.xls",sheet_name='Sheet1',index=False)