Category: Windows

Problem Formulation

Challenge: Given a CSV file. How to convert it to an excel file in Python?

We create a folder with two files, the file csv_to_excel.py and my_file.csv. We want to convert the CSV file to an excel file so that after running the script csv_to_excel.py, we obtain the third file my_file.csv in our folder like so:

All methods discussed in this tutorial show different code snippets to put into csv_to_excel.py so that it converts the CSV to XLSX in Python.

Method 1: 5 Easy Steps in Pandas

The most pythonic way to convert a .csv to an .xlsx (Excel) in Python is to use the Pandas library.

1. Install the pandas library with pip install pandas
2. Install the openpyxl library that is used internally by pandas with pip install openpyxl
3. Import the pandas libray with import pandas as pd
4. Read the CSV file into a DataFrame df by using the expression df = pd.read_csv('my_file.csv')
5. Store the DataFrame in an Excel file by calling df.to_excel('my_file.xlsx', index=None, header=True)

import pandas as pd df = pd.read_csv('my_file.csv')
df.to_excel('my_file.xlsx', index=None, header=True)

Note that there are many ways to customize the to_excel() function in case

• you don’t need a header line,
• you want to fix the first line in the Excel file,
• you want to format the cells as numbers instead of strings, or
• you have an index column in the original CSV and want to consider it in the Excel file too.

If you want to do any of those, feel free to read our full guide on the Finxter blog here:

Tutorial: Pandas DataFrame.to_excel() – An Unofficial Guide to Saving Data to Excel

Also, we’ve recorded a video on the ins and outs of this method here:

Let’s have a look at an alternative to converting a CSV to an Excel file in Python:

Method 2: Modules csv and openpyxl

To convert a CSV to an Excel file, you can also use the following approach:

• Import the csv module
• Import the openpyxl module
• Read the CSV file into a list of lists, one inner list per row, by using the csv.reader() function
• Write the list of lists to the Excel file by using the workbook representation of the openpyxl library.
• Get the active worksheet by calling workbook.active
• Write to the worksheet by calling worksheet.append(row) and append one list of values, one value per cell.

The following function converts a given CSV to an Excel file:

import csv
import openpyxl def csv_to_excel(csv_filename, excel_filename): # Read CSV file csv_data = [] with open(csv_filename) as f: csv_data = [row for row in csv.reader(f)] # Write to Excel file workbook = openpyxl.workbook.Workbook() worksheet = workbook.active for row in csv_data: worksheet.append(row) workbook.save(excel_filename) if __name__ == "__main__": csv_to_excel("my_file.csv", "my_file.xlsx")

This is a bit more fine-granular approach and it allows you to modify each row in the code or even write additional details into the Excel worksheet.

Where to Go From Here?

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Summary: os.path.basename(path) enables us to get the file name from the path, no matter what the os/path format. Another workaround is to use the ntpath module, which is equivalent to os.path.

Problem: How to extract the filename from a path, no matter what the operating system or path format is?

For example, let’s suppose that you want all the following paths to return demo.py:

➤ C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py
➤ /home/username/Desktop/codes/demo.py
➤ /home/username/Desktop/../demo.py

Expected Output in each case:

demo.py

Recommended: How To Get The Filename Without The Extension From A Path In Python?

Let us dive into the solutions without further delay.

❖ Method 1: Using os.path.basename

os.path.basename is a built-in method of the os module in Python that is used to derive the basename of a file from its path. It accepts the path as an input and then returns the basename of the file. Thus, to get the filename from its path, this is exactly the function that you would want to use.

Example 1: In Windows

import os
file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py'
print(os.path.basename(file_path)) # OUTPUT: demo.py

Example 2: In Linux

Caution: If you use the os.path.basename() function on a POSIX system in order to get the basename from a Windows-styled path, for example: “C:\\my\\file.txt“, the entire path will be returned.

Tidbit: os.path.basename() method actually uses the os.path.split() method internally and splits the specified path into a head and tail pair and finally returns the tail part. 

❖ Method 2: Using the ntpath Module

The ntpath module can be used to handle Windows paths efficiently on other platforms. os.path.basename function does not work in all the cases, like when we are running the script on a Linux host, and you attempt to process a Windows-style path, the process will fail.

This is where the ntpath module proves to be useful. Generally, the Windows path uses either the backslash or the forward-slash as a path separator. Therefore, the ntpath module, equivalent to the os.path while running on Windows, will work for all the paths on all platforms.

In case the file ends with a slash, then the basename will be empty, so you can make your own function and deal with it:

import ntpath def path_foo(path): head, tail = ntpath.split(path) return tail or ntpath.basename(head) paths = [r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py', r'/home/username/Desktop/codes/demo.py', r'/home/username/Desktop/../demo.py']
print([path_foo(path) for path in paths]) # ['demo.py', 'demo.py', 'demo.py']

❖ Method 3: Using pathlib.Path()

If you are using Python 3.4 or above, then the pathlib.Path() function of the pathlib module is another option that can be used to extract the file name from the path, no matter what the path format. The method takes the whole path as an input and extracts the file name from the path and returns the file name.

from pathlib import Path
file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py'
file_name = Path(file_path).name
print(file_name) # demo.py

Note: The .name property followed by the pathname is used to return the full name of the final child element in the path, regardless of whatever the path format is and regardless of whether it is a file or a folder.

Bonus Tip: You can also use Path("File Path").stem to get the file name without the file extension.

Example:

from pathlib import Path
file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py'
file_name = Path(file_path).stem
print(file_name) # demo

❖ Method 4: Using split()

If you do not intend to use any built-in module to extract the filename irrespective of the OS/platform in use, then you can simply use the split() method.

Example:

import os
file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py'
head, tail = os.path.split(file_path)
print(tail) # demo.py

Explanation: In the above example os.path.split() method is used to split the entire path string into head and tail pairs. Here, tail represents/stores the ending path name component, which is the base filename, and head represents everything that leads up to that. Therefore, the tail variable stores the name of the file that we need.

➤ A Quick Recap to split():
split() is a built-in method in Python that splits a string into a list based on the separator provided as an argument to it. If no argument is provided, then by default, the separator is any whitespace.

Learn more about the split() method here.

Alternatively, for more accurate results you can also use a combination of the strip() and split() methods as shown below.

file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py'
f_name = file_path.strip('/').strip('\\').split('/')[-1].split('\\')[-1]
print(f_name)
# demo.py

Explanation: The strip method takes care of the forward and backward slashes, which makes the path string fullproof against any OS or path format, and then the split method ensures that the entire path string is split into numerous strings within a list. Lastly, we will just return the last element from this list to get the filename.

❖ Method 5: Using Regex

If you have a good grip on regular expressions then here’s a regex specific solution for you that will most probably work on any OS.

import re
file_path = r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\\'
def base_name(path): basename = re.search(r'[^\\/]+(?=[\\/]?$)', path) if basename: return basename.group(0) paths = [r'C:\Users\SHUBHAM SAYON\Desktop\codes\demo.py', r'/home/username/Desktop/codes/demo.py', r'/home/username/Desktop/../demo.py']
print([base_name(path) for path in paths]) # ['demo.py', 'demo.py', 'demo.py']

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Conclusion

To sum thungs up, you can use one of the following methods to extract the filename from a given path irrespective of the OS/path format:

• os.path.basename('path')
• ntpath.basename()
• pathlib.Path('path').name
• os.path.split('path')
• using regex

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In this article we explore how to install Ghostscript on numerous different platforms and operating systems.

What is Ghostcript? Why install it?

What is Ghostscript, and why would we want to install it? To understand this we should first learn about Postscript.

Postscript

Postscript is a page description language geared towards desktop publishing documents.

If you want really professional-looking typesetting, layout, and graphics in your documents, desktop publishing software is what you use.

It was first created at Adobe Systems starting in 1982. As a language, it is similar to Python in that documents contain human-readable and writable commands in the language that can be parsed by an interpreter to get something done.

In the case of Python, text files containing Python commands can be parsed by the Python interpreter to create any kind of program imaginable.

In the case of Postscript, files containing Postscript commands can be parsed by a Postscript interpreter to render professional-looking documents, either to the screen or to a printer.

In addition, the PDF format is an extension of the Postscript language which adds more functionality and is now one of the most commonly used document formats.

Ghostscript

Ghostscript is a free open-source interpreter to render Postscript and PDF documents.

One of the reasons you might want to install it is to use a program that requires it.

Even without a program that needs it, installing Ghostscript can be useful:

Ghostscript can be used to modify PDF documents, such as converting PDF to images, or extracting text, among other things.

Even better, since Ghostscript provides a language-binding API, Ghostscript functions can be implemented in other languages, allowing us to write our own programs for modifying PDF documents. Supported languages are C#, Java, and Python.

Checking if Ghostscript is Already Installed

You may already have Ghostscript installed – your system may have come with it, or it may have been installed in support of a program you have installed. So save yourself some effort and check first.

Checking for Ghostscript on Windows

1. Press Windows+R to open the “Run” box.   
2. In the “Run” box type “cmd”.   
3. A command line window opens.   
4. In the command line window type “GSWIN64 -h” if your system is 64 bit (most machines these days), or “GSWIN32 -h” if your system is 32 bit (older machines). If Ghostscript is installed you will see Ghostscript help information. If you see an error then Ghostscript is not installed.   
5. Type “exit” to close the command line window.

Checking for Ghostscript on Mac

1. In the Finder, open the /Applications/Utilities folder, then double-click Terminal.   
2. In the terminal window type “gs -h”. If Ghostscript is installed you will see Ghostscript help information. If you see an error then Ghostscript is not installed.       
3. In the Terminal app on your Mac, choose Terminal > Quit Terminal.

Checking for Ghostscript on Linux

1. Open a terminal window. How to do this varies depending on which distribution of Linux you are using.   
2. In the terminal window type “gs -h”. If Ghostscript is installed you will see Ghostscript help information. If you see an error then Ghostscript is not installed.

Installing Ghostscript on Windows

1. Go to the Ghostscript download page at https://www.ghostscript.com/releases/gsdnld.html    
2. There are two license versions available: Affero GPL (AGPL), and commercial. Review the license information at https://artifex.com/licensing/. For casual use most users will chose AGPL.   
3. Choose 64 bit or 32 bit depending on your system.   
4. Download your choice by clicking on the chosen link.   
5. The installer program will download.   
6. The downloaded program will be gsxxxxw64.exe or gsxxxxw32.exe. The ‘xxxx’ will be numbers indicating the release version. The most current version as of this writing is 9.55.0, so the installer program would be gs9550w64.exe for the 64 bit version.   
7. Double-click the downloaded installer program.   
8. Follow the prompts to do the installation.

Installing Ghostscript on Unix

Use this for any UNIX-based machine, so this should work for Mac or Linux.

Most UNIX systems have much easier ways of installing Ghostscript, so you will almost certainly not need to do this.

However, if you have trouble with those easier approaches you might try this as a backup.

This method usually works, but sometimes it does not, and then you need to do some troubleshooting to figure out why (the configure file might not be configured properly for your system, for example).

Also note that you will need to make sure that compiling software for Linux or Mac is installed on your system, which is beyond the scope of this article. So choose this approach as a last resort.

1. Go to the Ghostscript download page and download the source code version. As of this writing this file is ghostscript-9.55.0.tar.gz   
2. Move this file to some folder where you want to work.   
3. Unarchive the downloaded file. Usually your system will be configured to do so by double-clicking the file. If not, you can unarchive using this command in the terminal: tar -xzf ghostscript-9.55.0.tar.gz. The file will unpack into sub-directories and files.   
4. In the terminal go to the top unpacked sub-directory.   
5. Run the configure file by typing ./configure in your terminal. This will review your system and get ready to compile the code.   
6. Compile the code by typing make in your terminal.   
7. Install the compiled code by typing this: sudo make install

Here are the commands for ease of copy&paste:

tar -xzf ghostscript-9.55.0.tar.gz
./configure
make
sudo make install

Installing Ghostscript on Mac

The easiest way to install Ghostscript on Mac is to use the Homebrew or Macports systems. These are package management systems for Mac that make available to the Mac the wide world of Unix open-source software.

In these systems, much of the configuring is done for you by others so that downloading and installing software is as easy as a single command, just like downloading an app for the Mac is as simple as clicking an icon in the Mac App Store.

What programs are available depends on what has been prepared by others for the system.

Fortunately, Ghostscript is available for these systems.

Setting up these systems is beyond the scope of this article. This page has a nice summary of those systems (and of the Fink system, another package management system). Follow their respective links to learn more about each system.

Install Ghostscript using Homebrew using the following command:

brew install ghostscript

Install Ghostscript using Macports using the following command:

sudo port install ghostscript

Installing Ghostscript on Ubuntu

It is often most intuitive to install software on Ubuntu using the GUI-based software application.

This accesses the repositories of extensive software available for Ubuntu.

However, it is often the fastest to do a command line install. Do so for Ghostscript as follows:

sudo apt install ghostscript

Installing Ghostscript on Other Debian-based Distributions

There are many distributions that, like Ubuntu, are based on Debian.

Many also have GUI applications for installing software, and often these can be used to install Ghostscript. But like Ubuntu, it is often the fastest to use the command line install.

The command is still the same:

sudo apt install ghostscript

Installing Ghostscript on Centos 7, and Other Red Hat/ Fedora-based Distributions

Centos 7 is a free version of the Red Hat Linux distribution, without Red Hat branding or technical support from Red Hat.

Fedora is the “bleeding-edge” freely available distribution in the Red Hat family of distributions that serves as the development foundation for the more robust and stable Red Hat distribution.

Since these are all in the same distribution family, they are all most quickly updated by the same command. The many other distributions in this family are also most quickly updated by the same command.

The command is:

sudo yum install ghostscript

Installing Ghostscript for Anaconda

If you are a data scientist more comfortable with data analysis in Anaconda than you are comfortable with OS management, you can still make sure you have ghostscript through Anaconda.

Open the Anaconda command line interface and enter the following command to install Ghostscript:

conda install -c conda-forge ghostscript

Installing Ghostscript in Google Colab

Ghostscript can even be installed in Google Colab.

Cells in Colab are in-effect like the Python shell. Therefore users can use the exclamation mark to submit OS shell commands, then enter the command to install Ghostscript.

The OS behind Colab operates like Ubuntu, so the installation command mirrors that of Ubuntu. Therefore, to install Ghostscript enter the following command in a Colab cell:

!apt get install ghostscript

Conclusion

Ghostscript is a free open-source interpreter that renders Postscript and PDF documents either to the screen or to a printer.

Ghostscript can also be used to process or modify such documents.

Even better, because Ghostscript includes a language-binding API, programmers can use it to write programs in other languages to modify PDF documents.

Supported languages are C#, Java, and Python.

As you can see, Ghostscript is available on many different platforms and operating systems. We have exhibited commands to install Ghostscript on many of these various platforms.

We hope you have found this helpful, and we wish you happy coding!