grab and filter from more than 255 columns from a huge closed workbook - sql

Question

i have a huge workbook (0.6 million rows) and 315 columns whose column names i need to grab into an array. due to the huge size, i don't want to open and close the workbook to copy the 1st row of the range. Also, I want to only grab certain columns from the 1st row that begin with the word "Global ".
can anyone help with short code example on how to go about doing this? please note i have tried ADOX, ADO etc but both show the 255 column limitations. I also dont want to open the workbook, but pull the required "Global " columns from the 315 columns into an array.
any help is most appreciated.

Answer 1

You can copy the first row of your target by opening a new workbook, and in A1 use this formula:
='C:\PATH_TO_TARGET\[TARGET_FILE_NAME.xlsx]WORKSHEET_NAME'!A1
Note that PATH+FILENAME+WORKSHEET is enclosed in single quotes, the FILENAME is enclosed in square brackets, and an exclamation separates the cell reference.
Then copy/Paste or fill right to get the next 314 columns. Note: this formula will return zero for empty target cells.
Once you have the column heading you can copy/paste_special_values if you want to destroy the links to the closed workbook.
Hope that helps

Answer 2

You could use the Python programing language.
While it does not actively works with XLSX fiels, you just have to install the openpyxl external module from here: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/openpyxl -
(You will also have to install Python. of course - just download it from www.python.org)
It will make working with your data in an interactive Python session a piece of cake, and the time to open the workbook without having to load the Excel interface should be a fraction of what you are expecting. (I think it will have to fit in your memory, though).
But this is all I had to type, in an interactive Python2 session to open a workbook, and retreive the column names that start with "bl":
import openpyxl
a = openpyxl.load_workbook("bla.xlsx")
[cell.value for cell in a.worksheets[0].rows[0] if cell.value.startswith("bl")]
output:
Out[8]: [u'bla', u'ble', u'bli', u'blo', u'blu']
The last input line requires on to know Python to be understood, so, here is a summary of what happens: Python is a language very fond of working with sequences - and the openpyxl libray gives your workbook as just that:
an object which is a sequence of worksheets - each worksheet having a rows attribute which has a sequence of all rows in the sheet, and each row bein a sequence of cells. Each cell has a value attribute which is the text within it.
The inline for statement is the compact form, but it could be written as a multiple line statement as:
In [10]: for cell in a.worksheets[0].rows[0]:
....: if cell.value.startswith("bl"):
....: print cell.value
....:
bla
ble
bli
blo
blu
Keep in mind that by exploring Python a bit deeper, you can programatically manipulate your data in a way that will be easier than ininteractivelygiven a data-set this size - and you can even use Python itself to drop select contents to an SQL database, (including its bult-in, single-file database, sqlite), where sophisticated indexes and queries can make working with your data a breeze)