Python XLWT adjusting column widths

python xlwt
TimothyAWiseman picture TimothyAWiseman · Jul 1, 2010 · Viewed 15.7k times · Source

I am enormously impressed with the ease of use of XLWT, but there is one thing I have not figured out how to do. I am trying to adjust certain rows to the minimum width they would need to display all characters (in other words, what excel would do if you double clicked on the divider between cells).

I know how to adjust the column widths to a predetermined amount, but I am not certain how to determine the minimum width needed to display everything.

Answer

Manfre picture Manfre · Jul 1, 2010

Width is 1/256 the width of the zero character for the default font. A good enough approximation is:

def get_width(num_characters):
    return int((1+num_characters) * 256)

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