Use Python to launch Excel file

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when i try os.system("open " + 'myfile.xlsx')
i get the output '0'

similarly, trying
os.system("start excel.exe myfilepath")
gives the result 32512

I have imported os and system, and I'm on mac. How can I change this so it does actually launch that excel file? And out of curiosity, what do the numbers it prints out mean?

Thanks!

5 Answers

Just these two lines

import os
os.system("start EXCEL.EXE file.xlsx")

Provided that file.xlsx is in the current directory.

I don't know about Mac OS, but if Windows Operating System is the case and provided the Microsoft Windows is properly installed, then consider using :

import os
os.system('start "excel" "C:\\path\\to\\myfile.xlsx"')

double-quotation is important for excel and C:\\path\\to\\myfile.xlsx ( where C just denotes the letter for the partition within the file system, might be replaced by D,E ..etc. ), and single-quotation is needed for the whole string within the os.system().

On Windows 10, this works for me:

import os
full_path_to_file = "C:\blah\blah\filename.xlsx"
os.system(full_path_to_file)

Copy-pasting any full path to a file in the command prompt (or passing it to os.system()) seems to work as long as you have permission to open the file. I suppose this only works when Excel is selected as default application for the .xlsx extention.

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