Python: How to write a complex number to excel using xlwt?

Question

I am trying to write a Python list to an excel file using xlwt library.

import xlwt
from tempfile import TemporaryFile
book = xlwt.Workbook()
sheet1 = book.add_sheet('sheet1')
for i in range(len(newdata)):
    for j in range(len(newdata[i])):
        sheet1.write(i,j,newdata[i][j])
name = "my_file.xls"
book.save(name)
book.save(TemporaryFile())

It work for common variable types (e.g. int, float, string) but when I try to write a complex number to the excel file, I get the following error:

Exception: Unexpected data type <type 'complex'>

As I understand write does not support complex numbers. Does anyone know how to write complex values to excel?! P.S. I don't want to write the data to a CSV file. It needs to be a .xls file.

Answer 1

You can convert the complex number into a string using sheet1.write(i,j,str(newdata[i][j])). This will help you get out of the traceback.