r

Extract hyperlink from Excel file in R

How do I take a cell in Excel, which has text that is hyperlinked, and extract the hyperlink part?

Solution

  • I found a super convoluted way to extract the hyperlinks:

    library(XML)

# rename file to .zip
my.zip.file <- sub("xlsx", "zip", my.excel.file)
file.copy(from = my.excel.file, to = my.zip.file)

# unzip the file
unzip(my.zip.file)

# unzipping produces a bunch of files which we can read using the XML package
# assume sheet1 has our data
xml <- xmlParse("xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml")

# finally grab the hyperlinks
hyperlinks <- xpathApply(xml, "//x:hyperlink/@display", namespaces="x")

    Derived from this blogpost.