from tempfile import TemporaryFile
from xlwt import Workbook
book = Workbook()
sheet1 = book.add_sheet('Sheet 1')
book.add_sheet('Sheet 2')
sheet1.write(0,0,'A1')
sheet1.write(0,1,'B1')
row1 = sheet1.row(1)
row1.write(0,'A2')
row1.write(1,'B2')
sheet1.col(0).width = 10000
sheet2 = book.get_sheet(1)
sheet2.row(0).write(0,'Sheet 2 A1')
sheet2.row(0).write(1,'Sheet 2 B1')
sheet2.flush_row_data()
sheet2.write(1,0,'Sheet 2 A3')
sheet2.col(0).width = 5000
sheet2.col(0).hidden = True
book.save('simple.xls')
book.save(TemporaryFile())

import xlrd
import xlutils.copy
import os
if __name__ == '__main__':
  wb = xlrd.open_workbook('simple.xls')  
  for s in wb.sheets():
    print 'Sheet:',s.name
    for row in range(s.nrows):
      values = []
      for col in range(s.ncols):
        values.append(s.cell(row,col).value)
      print ','.join(values)
    print

import xlrd
import xlutils.copy
import os
if __name__ == '__main__':
  template = "simple.xls"
  workBook = xlrd.open_workbook(template,formatting_info=True)
  workBook = xlutils.copy.copy(workBook)
  sheet = workBook.get_sheet(0)
  sheet.write(0, 0, '111')
  sheet.write(0, 1, '222')
  sheet.write(1, 0, '333')
  sheet.write(1, 1, '444')  
  workBook.save('simple.xls')