python xlwings - copy and paste ranges

Question

My first question on this site.

I am using xlwings with python 2.7. I want to copy the values in range 'A1:A6' from Sheet1 to cells 'A1:A6' in Sheet2. My code is as follows:

> my_range = Range('Sheet1','A1:A6').value
> 
> Range('Sheet2','A1:A6').value = my_range

When I run this code, however, it puts the values of my_range into cells 'A1:F1' on Sheet 2 instead of cells 'A1:A6' in Sheet 2.

Answer 1

Columns (as well as Rows) are returned as simple ("horizontal") lists, see the docs here. Why? First of all, it mimics the behavior of numpy 1d arrays. Second, it's usually what you'll want, e.g. you can directly iterate over a column or check if a value exists without having to unpack a nested list first.

Now, in your case, you'll obviously want to preserve the 2d shape which you can do (again similar to numpy) as follows:

my_values = Range('Sheet1','A1:A6', atleast_2d=True).value 
Range('Sheet2','A1:A6').value = my_values

Also note that what you call my_range should rather be called my_values as it holds a list, not an xlwings Range object.

Update:

Since v0.9.0, the syntax changed to:

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book('mybook.xlxs')
my_values = wb.sheets['Sheet1'].range('A1:A6').options(ndim=2).value 
wb.sheets['Sheet2'].range('A1:A6').value = my_values

Answer 2

As mentioned by West's approach, it can also use copy() and paste() syntax to copy cells' format in the assigned range.

import xlwings as xw

wb = xw.Book('mybook.xlxs')
sht = wb.sheets['Sheet1']
sht2 = wb.sheets['Sheet2']

sht.range('A1:A6').copy()
sht2.range("A1").paste(paste='formats')

wb.app.api.CutCopyMode=False

  

Answer 3

For anyone interested in doing a copy-paste that includes the source formatting you can use the api as shown:

import xlwings as xw

wb = xw.Book('mybook.xlxs')
sht = wb.sheets['Sheet1']
sht2 = wb.sheets['Sheet2']

sht.range('A1:A6').api.copy
sht2.range("A1").api.select
sht2.api.paste

wb.app.api.CutCopyMode=False