Question

I have csv data files with 2-line header, unknown number of rows and cols. For example

"x", "y"
"unit x", "unit y"
1, 2
3, 4

I use the following code to read the csv file and write it to a xls file

import csv, xlwt

f = open('example.csv', 'rb')
reader = csv.reader(f)

workbook = xlwt.Workbook()
sheet = workbook.add_sheet("Sheet 1")

for rowi, row in enumerate(reader):
    for coli, value in enumerate(row):
        sheet.write(rowi,coli,value)

workbook.save("example.xls")

The problem is it write all my data as text in xls. How can I convert text to number? I know first 2 row are header and data starts from row 3 to the end. How can I do this?

Answer 1

You can check to see if you are in row 3 onward and convert value to int.

for rowi, row in enumerate(reader):
    for coli, value in enumerate(row):
        if rowi >= 2:
            value = int(value)
        sheet.write(rowi, coli, value)

You could also try converting all values to numbers.

for rowi, row in enumerate(reader):
    for coli, value in enumerate(row):
        try:
            value = int(value)
        except ValueError as e:
            pass
        sheet.write(rowi, coli, value)