Converting xls file into csv/txt file in Python

Question

I'm Using Python 2.7.3 How can i convert excel file(.xls) to txt/.csv file

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = []
y = []
t = []

fig = plt.figure()
rect = fig.patch
rect.set_facecolor('#31312e')

readFile = open('data.csv', 'r')
sepFile = readFile.read().split('\n')
readFile.close()

for idx, plotPair in enumerate(sepFile):
    if plotPair in '. ':
       # skip. or space
       continue
    if idx > 1:  # to skip the first line
        xAndY = plotPair.split(',')
        time_string = xAndY[0]
        t.append(time_string)
        y.append(float(xAndY[1]))

ax1 = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1, axisbg='blue')
ax1.plot(t, y, 'c', linewidth=3.3)

plt.title('IRRADIANCE')
plt.xlabel('TIME')

plt.show()

sample of my txt file:

TimeStamp,Irradiance 21/7/2014 0:00,0.66 21/7/2014 0:00,0.71 21/7/2014 0:00,0.65 21/7/2014 0:00,0.67 21/7/2014 0:01,0.58

Answer 1

Use the xlrd and csv modules to convert xls to csv.

import xlrd
import csv

def xls_to_csv():

    x =  xlrd.open_workbook('data.xls')
    x1 = x.sheet_by_name('Sheet1')
    csvfile = open('data.csv', 'wb')
    writecsv = csv.writer(csvfile, quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)

    for rownum in xrange(x1.nrows): #To determine the total rows. 
        writecsv.writerow(x1.row_values(rownum))

    csvfile.close()