manipulating .xls data

[Skip Montanaro]

    karound> I would like to manipulate my excel file as if it were a text
    karound> file with python (check for duplicates, uppercase etc.). I
    karound> would like to know:

    karound> 1) how do convert it first to a CSV file and manipulate it.

    karound> 2) are there any functiionalities in excel that will allow me
    karound>    to create my own functions.

    karound> 3) what is the best way to manipualte excel files OTHER than
    karound>    COM.

I have been told, but haven't yet confirmed, that the latest version of
gnumeric comes with a utility program named something like 'sconvert'.  That
may be the simplest way to extract information from an XLS file.  This is of
course only useful if you want to manipulate such files on a machine which
supports gnumeric.

Skip