pyexcel-xlsxr - Let you focus on data, instead of xlsx format

November 17, 2025 · View on GitHub

================================================================================ pyexcel-xlsxr - Let you focus on data, instead of xlsx format

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pyexcel-xlsxr is a specialized xlsx reader using lxml. It does partial reading, meaning it wont load all content into memory.

lxml installation

This library depends on lxml. Because its availablity, the use of this library is restricted.

for PyPy, lxml == 3.4.4 are tested to work well. But lxml above 3.4.4 is difficult to get installed.

for Python 3.7, please use lxml==4.1.1.

Otherwise, this library works OK with lxml 3.4.4 or above.

Support the project

If your company uses pyexcel and its components in a revenue-generating product, please consider supporting the project on GitHub or Patreon <https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=5537627>_. Your financial support will enable me to dedicate more time to coding, improving documentation, and creating engaging content.

Known constraints

Fonts, colors and charts are not supported.

Nor to read password protected xls, xlsx and ods files.

Installation

You can install pyexcel-xlsxr via pip:

.. code-block:: bash

$ pip install pyexcel-xlsxr

or clone it and install it:

.. code-block:: bash

$ git clone https://github.com/pyexcel/pyexcel-xlsxr.git
$ cd pyexcel-xlsxr
$ python setup.py install

Usage

As a standalone library

.. testcode:: :hide:

>>> import os
>>> import sys
>>> from io import BytesIO
>>> from collections import OrderedDict

.. testcode:: :hide:

>>> from pyexcel_xlsxw import save_data
>>> data = OrderedDict() # from collections import OrderedDict
>>> data.update({"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]})
>>> data.update({"Sheet 2": [["row 1", "row 2", "row 3"]]})
>>> save_data("your_file.xlsx", data)

Read from an xlsx file

Here's the sample code:

.. code-block:: python

>>> from pyexcel_xlsxr import get_data
>>> data = get_data("your_file.xlsx")
>>> import json
>>> print(json.dumps(data))
{"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]], "Sheet 2": [["row 1", "row 2", "row 3"]]}

.. testcode:: :hide:

>>> data = OrderedDict()
>>> data.update({"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]})
>>> data.update({"Sheet 2": [[7, 8, 9], [10, 11, 12]]})
>>> io = BytesIO()
>>> save_data(io, data)
>>> unused = io.seek(0)
>>> # do something with the io
>>> # In reality, you might give it to your http response
>>> # object for downloading

Read from an xlsx from memory

Continue from previous example:

.. code-block:: python

>>> # This is just an illustration
>>> # In reality, you might deal with xlsx file upload
>>> # where you will read from requests.FILES['YOUR_XLSX_FILE']
>>> data = get_data(io)
>>> print(json.dumps(data))
{"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]], "Sheet 2": [[7, 8, 9], [10, 11, 12]]}

Pagination feature

Let's assume the following file is a huge xlsx file:

.. code-block:: python

huge_data = [ ... [1, 21, 31], ... [2, 22, 32], ... [3, 23, 33], ... [4, 24, 34], ... [5, 25, 35], ... [6, 26, 36] ... ] sheetx = { ... "huge": huge_data ... } save_data("huge_file.xlsx", sheetx)

And let's pretend to read partial data:

.. code-block:: python

partial_data = get_data("huge_file.xlsx", start_row=2, row_limit=3) print(json.dumps(partial_data)) {"huge": [[3, 23, 33], [4, 24, 34], [5, 25, 35]]}

And you could as well do the same for columns:

.. code-block:: python

partial_data = get_data("huge_file.xlsx", start_column=1, column_limit=2) print(json.dumps(partial_data)) {"huge": [[21, 31], [22, 32], [23, 33], [24, 34], [25, 35], [26, 36]]}

Obvious, you could do both at the same time:

.. code-block:: python

partial_data = get_data("huge_file.xlsx", ... start_row=2, row_limit=3, ... start_column=1, column_limit=2) print(json.dumps(partial_data)) {"huge": [[23, 33], [24, 34], [25, 35]]}

.. testcode:: :hide:

os.unlink("huge_file.xlsx")

As a pyexcel plugin

No longer, explicit import is needed since pyexcel version 0.2.2. Instead, this library is auto-loaded. So if you want to read data in xlsx format, installing it is enough.

Reading from an xlsx file

Here is the sample code:

.. code-block:: python

>>> import pyexcel as pe
>>> sheet = pe.get_book(file_name="your_file.xlsx")
>>> sheet
Sheet 1:
+---+---+---+
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
+---+---+---+
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
+---+---+---+
Sheet 2:
+-------+-------+-------+
| row 1 | row 2 | row 3 |
+-------+-------+-------+

.. testcode:: :hide:

>>> sheet.save_as("another_file.xlsx")

Reading from a IO instance

You got to wrap the binary content with stream to get xlsx working:

.. code-block:: python

>>> # This is just an illustration
>>> # In reality, you might deal with xlsx file upload
>>> # where you will read from requests.FILES['YOUR_XLSX_FILE']
>>> xlsxfile = "another_file.xlsx"
>>> with open(xlsxfile, "rb") as f:
...     content = f.read()
...     r = pe.get_book(file_type="xlsx", file_content=content)
...     print(r)
...
Sheet 1:
+---+---+---+
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
+---+---+---+
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
+---+---+---+
Sheet 2:
+-------+-------+-------+
| row 1 | row 2 | row 3 |
+-------+-------+-------+

License

New BSD License

Developer guide

Development steps for code changes

#. git clone https://github.com/pyexcel/pyexcel-xlsxr.git #. cd pyexcel-xlsxr

Upgrade your setup tools and pip. They are needed for development and testing only:

#. pip install --upgrade setuptools pip

Then install relevant development requirements:

#. pip install -r rnd_requirements.txt # if such a file exists #. pip install -r requirements.txt #. pip install -r tests/requirements.txt

Once you have finished your changes, please provide test case(s), relevant documentation.

.. note::

As to rnd_requirements.txt, usually, it is created when a dependent
library is not released. Once the dependency is installed
(will be released), the future
version of the dependency in the requirements.txt will be valid.

How to test your contribution

Although nose and doctest are both used in code testing, it is advisable that unit tests are put in tests. doctest is incorporated only to make sure the code examples in documentation remain valid across different development releases.

On Linux/Unix systems, please launch your tests like this::

$ make

On Windows, please issue this command::

> test.bat

Before you commit

Please run::

$ make format

so as to beautify your code otherwise your build may fail your unit test.

Before you raise pull request

Please edit 'changelog.yml' and record your changes

.. testcode:: :hide:

import os os.unlink("your_file.xlsx") os.unlink("another_file.xlsx")