Which library should I use to write an XLS from Linux / Python?

Jeremy Dunck picture Jeremy Dunck · Oct 29, 2008 · Viewed 11.2k times · Source

I'd love a good native Python library to write XLS, but it doesn't seem to exist. Happily, Jython does.

So I'm trying to decide between jexcelapi and Apache HSSF: http://www.andykhan.com/jexcelapi/tutorial.html#writing http://poi.apache.org/hssf/quick-guide.html

(I can't use COM automation because I'm not on Windows, and even if I was, I couldn't afford Office licenses.)

My initial thoughts are that POI/HSSF is very thorough, but also very Java-- everything seems a bit harder than it needs to be. Good documentation, but my head hurts trying to bridge the gap between what it describes and what I need to accomplish.

jexcepapi seems to have a simpler, nicer (for me) interface, but doesn't have very good documentation or community.

Which would you use, and why?

Answer

S.Lott picture S.Lott · Oct 29, 2008

What's wrong with xlwt?