How to remove any word from a excel file in C?

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How to remove any word from excel file in c?

What I have tried:

I know how to delete that file but unfortunately didn't know how to delete any specific word or character from a file.

Posted 20-Apr-22 6:04am

xguybluehat

Updated 20-Apr-22 8:58am

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jeron1 20-Apr-22 12:20pm

Read the contents of the file into memory, remove the word (or character) from memory, then write the modified memory to the file.

Dave Kreskowiak 20-Apr-22 12:39pm

That's not an "Excel" file. What you're dealing with is a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file, which is just a text file.

xguybluehat 20-Apr-22 13:25pm

I mean , i'm using the format .xlsx, that's an excel file extension.

Dave Kreskowiak 20-Apr-22 14:11pm

The extension doesn't change the content of the file in any way.

A .csv file is just a text file with comma separated values. Any application that can read CSV or text files can open these.

A .xlsx file is an Excel file format, which is really a bunch of .xml files compressed into a .zip file and given the .xlsx extension. Opening these is anything other than Excel, or some other application that specifies it can read these, results in a bunch of garbage being displayed.

The reason a .csv file opens in Excel when you double-click it is because Excel is registered as the default application that opens any filename with a .csv extension. You don't have to use Excel to open the file. You can just drag and drop the file on Notepad and it'll open it since .csv is just a formatted text file.

xguybluehat 20-Apr-22 15:13pm

hm , thanks for this explanation , i see some loopholes in my knowledge.

Dave Kreskowiak 20-Apr-22 14:14pm

Now, if you're using a .xlsx file, you have to open the file using the OpenXML SDK[^] and use it's classes and methods to load the file and get at the data. You can NOT just use normal file methods to "remove a word" from the file.

Richard MacCutchan 20-Apr-22 15:20pm

You cannot edit a .xlsx file in C, as I already mentioned below. If your file is actually a .csv file, then it is just text and you can use the standard C file input output and text manipulation functions.

xguybluehat 20-Apr-22 15:08pm

Thank u all for ur time.

xguybluehat 20-Apr-22 22:00pm

TYSM Dave Kreskowiak , ur explanation clears all my doubts.Have a gr8 day!

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2022-04-20T08:58:00

It'll depend on the actual excel version - there are two file types: .XLS and .XLSX.

The former is a binary format which is proprietary to Microsoft and will not be at all easy to process in C.

The latter is a Zipped set of XML files and is a lot simpler to process - but even then you're going to need to put a lot of effort in. Starting by finding a C library that can read ZIP files - but even then you're probably going to have to check carefully as there are different version of ZIP files as well, and early libraries may not be able to open XLSX zips.
Inside the zip will be OpenXML files so you'll either have to find a library that can read and write them - good luck with that for C - or write your own XML processor. But once you have that the job itself is relatively trivial.

Would I do it? No chance. I'd use a modern language, with a modern framework which gives support for reading an writing Excel files directly ... C is just too old a language to make it anything but a nasty job!

Richard MacCutchan · Answer 2 · 2022-04-20T06:22:00

Solution 1

I do not know of any way to do it from C. Excel files are in a proprietary format, they are not simple text files. If you use one of the .NET languages then you can access its content via the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel Namespace | Microsoft Docs[^].

Posted 20-Apr-22 6:22am

Richard MacCutchan

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KarstenK 21-Apr-22 4:16am

I know a way, but I wont go it. ;-)
COM interop like: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13601/COM-in-plain-C

Richard MacCutchan 21-Apr-22 4:28am

Yes, I read that article a few years ago. But it will not be of any use to someone who is just learning.

KarstenK · Answer 3 · 2022-04-20T07:47:00

Solution 2

The right language for working with MS Excel is C#. It is a hugh field and so you better start with How to access Office interop objects (C# Programming Guide) if you are serious about it.

Looks like there is some example code.

PS: C is a low level language to control hardware, but not for COM interop with Excel. Someday you may understand the truth of my words.

Posted 20-Apr-22 7:47am

KarstenK

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xguybluehat 20-Apr-22 15:12pm

i can't learn c# rn , cuz i'm working on a project that i've to finish this month anyhow.

KarstenK 21-Apr-22 4:18am

Try your luck with: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13601/COM-in-plain-C

but I would dive into the easier C# language. Discuss my advice with somebody who has the skills and you trust. Good luck.

How to remove any word from a excel file in C?

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