How To Detect If A Cell Is Empty When Reading Excel Files Using The ...

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Learn more about Labs How to detect if a cell is empty when reading Excel files using the xlrd library? Ask Question Asked 12 years, 4 months ago Modified 12 years, 4 months ago Viewed 31k times 11

I handle Excel files using the functions row_values and col_values:

import xlrd workbook = xlrd.open_workbook( filename ) sheet_names = workbook.sheet_names() for sheet_name in sheet_names: sheet = workbook.sheet_by_name( sheet_name ) # ... row_values = sheet.row_values( rownum ) # ... col_values = sheet.col_values( colnum )

For example, I get col_values as list. What if I meet an empty cell in some column? For example a cell (1,1) is not empty, a cell (1,2) is empty and a cell (1,3) is not empty? How can I detect that the cell (1,2) is empty?

Is this true that I get a list with an empty string as a value of an empty cell (for most well-known programs which generate Excel files)?

• python
• excel
• xlrd

Share Improve this question Follow edited Jul 22, 2012 at 19:18 sergzach asked Jul 22, 2012 at 18:43 sergzachsergzach 6,75477 gold badges5151 silver badges8686 bronze badges Add a comment |

1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default Highest score (default) Trending (recent votes count more) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 19

You could be explicit and check that sheet.cell_type(rowno, colno) in (xlrd.XL_CELL_EMPTY, xlrd.XL_CELL_BLANK) but the docs state the value will be u'' where those are the case anyway.

Instead of using row_values, you could also use row(n) which returns a list of Cell objects which have .value and .cell_type attributes.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 22, 2012 at 20:30 Jon ClementsJon Clements 142k3434 gold badges252252 silver badges286286 bronze badges 2

• This is almost 8 years later and I'm getting 'Cell' object has no attribute 'cell_type' – Ali Tou Commented Nov 18, 2020 at 10:49
• @AliTou this may be a roundabout way, but I just convert the cell value to a string and compare it to an empty string (e.g cell_value = str(cell.value); cell_empty = (cell_value == "")) – jack.py Commented Dec 20, 2020 at 6:56

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