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 us

Answer 1

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.