Python: No directory/ file when using xlrd

Question

I have simple code:

from xlrd import open_workbook

open_workbook('Book1.xls')

No matter how I save the file (xls or xlsx) or how I change the path to the file (C:\Users\... or C:\Users...) I keep getting:

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '(insert whatever is in place of Book1.xls)'

I don't know what I could be doing wrong. I'm not trying anything specific yet I just want it to not throw up an error.

Actually this fixed it! thanks! does this always have to be the case even if you give it a full path to where it is? — thunderbootyclap
– thunderbootyclap, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 5:36

jack · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-09 05:25:00Z

3

You are not including whole path of the file. The path will be looks like:

file="C:\\USER\\TEST\\FILENAME"

or

file=r":\USER\TEST\FILENAME"

If you are using single slash then you need to use 'r' or else it will throw error.

answered Nov 9, 2014 at 5:25

jack

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1 Comment

I was including the full path i just abbreviated for the question. but i did try the "r" thing and it still didnt work

Joran Beasley · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-09 03:52:42Z

1

you are not doing workbook("Book1.xls")

you are passing it a path (with directories) ... one of the folders in the path doesnt exist

this is probably because you do something like

directory="C:\Users\Blah\..."

when you need to do

directory = r"C:\Users\Blah\..."

other wise the backslashes serve to escape the next character

answered Nov 9, 2014 at 3:52

Joran Beasley

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