In this tutorial, we’re gonna look at way to use python-docx module to read, write Word docx files in Python program.
Contents
Word documents
Word .docx file has more structures than plain text. With python-docx module, we have 3 different data types:
– a Document object for entire document.
– Paragraph objects for the paragraphs inside Document object.
– Each Paragraph object contains a list of Run objects.
Read/Write Word docx files in Python
Install python-docx module
Open cmd, then run:
pip install python-docx
Once the installation is successful, we can see docx folder at Python\Python[version]\Lib\site-packages.
(In this tutorial, we use python-docx 0.8.10)
Now we can import the module by running import docx.
Read docx file
Open file
We call docx.Document() function and pass the filename to open a docx file under a Document object.
>>> import docx >>> gkzDoc = docx.Document('grokonez.docx') |
Get paragraphs
Document object has paragraphs attribute that is a list of Paragraph objects.
>>> gkzDoc = docx.Document('grokonez.docx') >>> len(gkzDoc.paragraphs) 4 >>> gkzDoc.paragraphs[0].text 'JavaSampleApproach.com was the predecessor website to grokonez.com.' >>> gkzDoc.paragraphs[1].text 'In this brandnew site, we don\u2019t only focus on Java & Javascript Technology but also approach to other technologies & frameworks, other fields of computer science such as Machine Learning and Testing. All of them will come to you in simple, feasible, practical and integrative ways. Then you will feel the connection of everything.' >>> gkzDoc.paragraphs[2].text 'What does grokonez mean?' >>> gkzDoc.paragraphs[3].text 'Well, grokonez is derived from the words grok and konez.' |
Get full-text
To get full-text of the document, we will:
– open the Word document
– loop over all Paragraph objects and then appends their text
>>> import docx >>> gkzDoc = docx.Document('grokonez.docx') >>> fullText = [] >>> for paragraph in doc.paragraphs: ... fullText.append(paragraph.text) ... >>> fullText [ 'JavaSampleApproach.com was the predecessor website to grokonez.com.', 'In this brandnew site, we don\u2019t only focus on Java & Javascript Technology but also approach to other technologies & frameworks, other fields of computer science such as Machine Learning and Testing. All of them will come to you in simple, feasible, practical and integrative ways. Then you will feel the connection of everything.', 'What does grokonez mean?', 'Well, grokonez is derived from the words grok and konez.' ] # add 2 lines between paragraphs and merge them all >>> '\n\n'.join(fullText) |
Write docx file
Create Word document
We call docx.Document() function to get a new, blank Word Document object.
>>> import docx >>> gkzDoc = docx.Document() >>> gkzDoc <docx.document.Document object at 0x0000018D22677318> |
Save Word Document
When everything’s done, we must use save('filename.docx') Document’s method with filename to save the Document object to a file.
>>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Add Paragraphs
We use add_paragraph() Document’s method to add a new paragraph and get a reference to this Paragraph object.
>>> gkzDoc.add_paragraph('grokonez.com for developers!') <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000018D23305C88> |
We can add text to the end of an existing Paragraph object using Paragraph’s add_run(text) method.
>>> para1 = gkzDoc.add_paragraph('1- Python Tutorials') >>> para2 = gkzDoc.add_paragraph('2- Tensorflow Tutorials') >>> para1.add_run(' - Basics') <docx.text.run.Run object at 0x0000018D22ADF390> |
Result in grokonez.docx:
To make text styled, we add Run with text attributes.
>>> para2.add_run(' - ') <docx.text.run.Run object at 0x0000018D23305B70> >>> para2.add_run('Machine Learning').bold = True >>> para2.add_run(' Tutorials').italic = True # both bold and italic >>> para3 = gkzDoc.add_paragraph() >>> runner = para3.add_run('3- Big Data Tutorials') >>> runner.bold = True >>> runner.italic = True >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Result in grokonez.docx:
These are some text attributes:
– bold
– italic
– underline
– strike (strikethrough)
– double_strike (double strikethrough)
– all_caps (capital letters)
– shadow
– outline
– rtl (right-to-left)
Add Headings
We use Document’s add_heading(heading, i) method to add a paragraph with heading style with i argument from 0 to 9 for heading levels.
>>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 1', 1) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2FA5C240> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 2', 2) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2F228E10> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 3', 3) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2FA5C320> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 4', 4) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2F228E10> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 5', 5) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2FA5C2B0> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 6', 6) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2F228E10> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 7', 7) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2FA5C240> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 8', 8) <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000016F2F228E10> >>> gkzDoc.add_heading('grokonez 9', 9) |
Add Line Breaks, Page Breaks
Instead of starting a new paragraph, we can add a line break using Run object add_break() method on the one that we want to have the break appear after.
>>> import docx >>> gkzDoc = docx.Document() >>> para = gkzDoc.add_paragraph('grokonez Tutorials') >>> para.runs[0].add_break() >>> para.add_run('Python Basics') <docx.text.run.Run object at 0x000001F95E958F98> >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') >>> para.text 'grokonez Tutorials\nPython Basics' |
Result in grokonez.docx:
We can also add a page break with add_break() method by passing the value docx.enum.text.WD_BREAK.PAGE as an argument to it.
>>> gkzDoc = docx.Document() >>> para = gkzDoc.add_paragraph('grokonez Tutorials') >>> para.runs[0].add_break(docx.enum.text.WD_BREAK.PAGE) >>> gkzDoc.add_paragraph('Python Basics') <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000019258EDA470> >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Result in grokonez.docx:
Add Pictures
We can use Document object’s add_picture() method to add an image to the end of the document.
>>> gkzDoc = docx.Document() >>> gkzDoc.add_paragraph('grokonez Tutorials') <docx.text.paragraph.Paragraph object at 0x0000019256D5E6A0> >>> gkzDoc.add_picture('gkn-logo-sm.png') <docx.shape.InlineShape object at 0x0000019258F3F390> >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Result in grokonez.docx:
add_picture() method has optional width and height arguments.
If we don’t use them, the width and height will default to the normal size of the image.
>>> gkzDoc.add_picture('gkn-logo-sm.png', width=docx.shared.Inches(1)) <docx.shape.InlineShape object at 0x0000019256D5E470> >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Result in grokonez.docx:
>>> gkzDoc.add_picture('gkn-logo-sm.png', width=docx.shared.Inches(1), height=docx.shared.Cm(3)) <docx.shape.InlineShape object at 0x0000019258F3FB70> >>> gkzDoc.save('grokonez.docx') |
Result in grokonez.docx:
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“Open cmd, then run:
pip install python-docx
Once the installation is successful…”
I’m still pretty green, so this is not very clear. This line does not execute in the command prompt, nor does it execute in IDLE. I assume this is Windows and not Mac? What version of Python? If this was more clear, I’d be home free. Perhaps a hyperlink for “cmd” to clear things up?
I know this sounds like the typical internet tantrum – it isn’t – but a lot of stuff that is understandably taken for granted by seasoned programmers is the difference between going and stopping for us newcomers. And I would hazard to guess that newcomers outnumber experienced folk when searching for answers online. It doesn’t take much to lock us up, but we’re learning.
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