Integers from excel files become floats?

python xlrd
Terry Li picture Terry Li · Jan 11, 2012 · Viewed 27.2k times · Source

I use xlrd to read data from excel files.

For integers stored in the files, let's say 63, the xlrd interprets it as 63.0 of type number.

Why can't xlrd recognize 63 as an integer?

Assume sheet.row(1)[0].value gives us 63.0. How can I convert it back to 63.

Answer

John Machin picture John Machin · Jan 11, 2012

Excel treats all numbers as floats. In general, it doesn't care whether your_number % 1 == 0.0 is true or not.

Example: A1 = 63.0, B1 = 63, C1 = INT(A1), A2 = TYPE(A1), B2 = TYPE(B1), C2 = TYPE(C1) You'l see that TYPE() returns 1 in each case.

From the Excel Help:

If value is   TYPE returns 
Number        1 
Text          2 
Logical value 4 
Error value   16 
Array         64

xlrd reports what it finds. xlrd doesn't mangle its input before exposing it to you. Converting a column from (62.9, 63.0, 63.1, etc) to (62.9, 63, 63.1, etc) would seem like a pointless waste of CPU time to me.

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