10/8/21, 5:48 PM Database Programming in Python | Python Connect to Database

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Database Programming in Python –

Tutorial For Beginners

BY RAJAN DOBHAL July 15, 2021

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This post is also available in: हिन्दी (Hindi), ‫( العربية‬Arabic)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Database Programming in Python

DB-API (SQL-API) for Python

Connection Objects

Cursor Objects

Cursor Objects

Cursor Attributes

Cursor Methods

Python and MySQL

Database Connection

Creating a Database Table

INSERT Operation

READ Operation

UPDATE Operation

DELETE Operation

COMMIT Operation

ROLLBACK Operation

Disconnecting the Database

Almost every organization depends on large databases. These are

essentially collections of tables and connected through columns.
These database systems support SQL, the Structured Query
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Language, which is used to create, access, and manipulate the data.

SQL is used to access data, and also to create and exploit the
relationships between the stored data. Additionally, these databases
support database normalization rules for avoiding the redundancy
of data.

Database Programming in Python

The Python programming language has powerful features for
database programming. Python supports various databases like
MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, PostgreSQL, etc. Python also supports Data
Definition Language (DDL), Data Manipulation Language (DML), and
Data Query Statements. For database programming, the Python DB
API is a widely used module that provides a database application
programming interface.

DB-API (SQL-API) for Python

Python provides DB-API which is independent of any database
engine and it enables you to write Python scripts to access any
database engine. The Python DB-API implementation for different
databases are as follows –

For MySQL it is MySQLdb. 

For PostgreSQL it is psycopg, PyGresQL and pyPgSQL
For Oracle it has dc_oracle2 and cx_oracle.
For DB2 DB-API implementation is Pydb2. 

Python’s DB-API consists of connection objects, cursor objects,

standard exceptions, and some other module contents.

Connection Objects
Connection objects in DB-API of Python create a connection with the
database which is further used for different transactions. These
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connection objects are also used as representatives of the database

session. 

A connection to a database in Python is created as follows:

conn = MySQLdb.connect('library', user='user_name',

password='python')

After connection to a database has been established, you can use it

for calling objects like commit(), rollback(), and close().

Commit: In a general sense, a commit is the updating of a record in

a database. In the context of a database transaction, a commit refers
to the saving of data permanently after a set of tentative changes. A
commit ends a transaction within a relational database and allows
all other users to see the changes.

Rollback: In database technologies, a rollback is an operation that

returns the database to some previous state. Rollbacks are
important for database integrity because they mean that the
database can be restored to a clean copy even after erroneous
operations are performed.

cur = conn.cursor() //creates new cursor object for

executing SQL statements

conn.commit() //Commits the transactions

conn.rollback() //Roll back the transactions

conn.close() //closes the connection

conn.callproc(proc,param) //call stored procedure for

execution

conn.getsource(proc) //fetches stored procedure code

Cursor Objects

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The cursor is one of the powerful features of SQL. These are objects
that are responsible for submitting various SQL statements to a
database server. There are several cursor classes in
MySQLdb.cursors:

BaseCursor is the base class for Cursor objects.

Cursor is the default cursor class.
CursorWarningMixIn, CursorStoreResultMixIn,
CursorTupleRowsMixIn, and BaseCursor are some
components of the cursor class.
CursorStoreResultMixIn uses the
mysql_store_result() function to retrieve result sets
from the executed query. These result sets are stored at
the client side.
CursorUseResultMixIn uses the
mysql_use_result() function to retrieve result sets from
the executed query. These result sets are stored at the
server side.

The following example illustrates the execution of SQL commands

using cursor objects. You can use execute to execute SQL
commands like SELECT. To commit all SQL operations you need to
close the cursor as cursor.close().

cursor.execute('SELECT * FROM books')

cursor.execute('''SELECT * FROM books WHERE book_name

= 'python' AND book_author = 'Mark Lutz')

cursor.close()

Cursor Objects
These objects represent a database cursor, which is used to manage
the context of a fetch operation. Cursors created from the same
connection are not isolated, i.e., any changes done to the database
by a cursor are immediately visible by the other cursors. Cursors
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created from different connections can or can not be isolated,

depending on how the transaction support is implemented.

Cursor Attributes
Cursor Objects should respond to the following methods and
attributes.

.description: This read-only attribute is a sequence of 7-item

sequences. Each of these sequences contains information describing
one result column:

name
type_code
display_size
internal_size
precision
scale
null_ok

The first two items (name and type_code) are mandatory, the other
five are optional and are set to None if no meaningful values can be
provided. This attribute will be None for operations that do not
return rows or if the cursor has not had an operation invoked via the
.execute*() method yet. 

.rowcount: This read-only attribute specifies the number of rows

that the last .execute*() produced (for DQL statements like SELECT)
or affected (for DML statements like UPDATE or INSERT). The
attribute is -1 in case no .execute*() has been performed on the
cursor or the rowcount of the last operation cannot be determined
by the interface.

Cursor Methods
This method is optional since not all databases provide stored
procedures.

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.callproc(procname [, parameters ]): It calls a stored database

procedure with the given name. The sequence of parameters must
contain one entry for each argument that the procedure expects.
The result of the call is returned as a modified copy of the input
sequence. Input parameters are left untouched, output and
input/output parameters replaced with possibly new values. The
procedure may also provide a result set as output. This must then be
made available through the standard .fetch*() methods.

.close(): Close the cursor now. The cursor will be unusable from this
point forward; an Error (or subclass) exception will be raised if any
operation is attempted with the cursor.

.execute(operation [, parameters]): Prepare and execute a

database operation (query or command). Parameters may be
provided as sequence or mapping and will be bound to variables in
the operation. Variables are specified in a database-specific
notation. A reference to the operation will be retained by the cursor.
If the same operation object is passed in again, then the cursor can
optimize its behavior. This is most effective for algorithms where the
same operation is used, but different parameters are bound to it
(many times).

For maximum efficiency when reusing an operation, it is best to use

the .setinputsizes() method to specify the parameter types and
sizes ahead of time. It is legal for a parameter to not match the
predefined information; the implementation should compensate,
possibly with a loss of efficiency.

The parameters may also be specified as a list of tuples to e.g. insert

multiple rows in a single operation, but this kind of usage is
deprecated: .executemany() should be used instead.

.executemany(operation, seq_of_parameters): Prepare a

database operation (query or command) and then execute it against
all parameter sequences or mappings found in the sequence
seq_of_parameters. Modules are free to implement this method
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using multiple calls to the .execute() method or by using array

operations to have the database process the sequence as a whole in
one call.

You can use this method for an operation that produces one or
more result sets that constitutes undefined behavior, and the
implementation is permitted (but not required) to raise an exception
when it detects that a result set has been created by an invocation of
the operation.

.fetchone(): Fetch the next row of a query result set, returning a

single sequence, or None when no more data is available. An Error
(or subclass) exception is raised if the previous call to .execute*()
did not produce any result set or no call was issued yet.

.fetchmany([size=cursor.arraysize]): Fetch the next set of rows of

a query result, returning a sequence of sequences (e.g. a list of
tuples). An empty sequence is returned when no more rows are
available. The number of rows to fetch per call is specified by the
parameter. If it is not given, the cursor’s arraysize determines the
number of rows be fetched. The method should try to fetch as many
rows as indicated by the size parameter. If this is not possible due to
the specified number of rows not being available, fewer rows may be
returned. An Error (or subclass) exception is raised if the previous
call to .execute*() did not produce any result set or no call was
issued yet.

.fetchall(): Fetch all (remaining) rows of a query result, returning

them as a sequence of sequences (e.g. a list of tuples). Note that the
cursor’s arraysize attribute can affect the performance of this
operation. An Error (or subclass) exception is raised if the previous
call to .execute*() did not produce any result set or no call was
issued yet.

.nextset(): This method will make the cursor skip to the next
available set, discarding any remaining rows from the current set. If
there are no more sets, the method returns None. Otherwise, it
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returns a true value, and subsequent calls to the .fetch*() methods

will return rows from the next result set. An Error (or subclass)
exception is raised if the previous call to .execute*() did not produce
any result set or no call was issued yet.

.arraysize: This read/write attribute specifies the number of rows to

fetch at a time with .fetchmany(). It defaults to 1 meaning to fetch a
single row at a time. Implementations must observe this value
concerning the .fetchmany() method, but are free to interact with the
database a single row at a time. It may also be used in the
implementation of .executemany().

.setinputsizes(sizes): This can be used before a call to .execute*()

to predefine memory areas for the operation’s parameters. sizes are
specified as a sequence — one item for each input parameter. The
item should be a Type Object that corresponds to the input that will
be used, or it should be an integer specifying the maximum length of
a string parameter. If the item is None, then no predefined memory
area will be reserved for that column (this is useful to avoid
predefined areas for large inputs). This method would be used
before the .execute*() method is invoked.

.setoutputsize(size [, column]): Set a column buffer size for fetches

of large columns (e.g. LONGs, BLOBs, etc.). The column is specified
as an index into the result sequence. Not specifying the column will
set the default size for all large columns in the cursor. This method
would be used before the .execute*() method is invoked.

Python and MySQL

Python and MySQL are a good combination to develop database
applications. Before proceeding, you make sure you have MySQLdb
installed on your machine. Just type the following in your Python
script and execute it.

import MySQLdb

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Database Connection
The first step in using a database in a program is to establish a
database connection.

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

db =
MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST
DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

# execute SQL query using execute() method.

cursor.execute("SELECT VERSION()")

# Fetch a single row using fetchone() method.

data = cursor.fetchone()

print "Database version : %s " % data

# disconnect from server

db.close()

If a connection is established with the data source, then a

Connection Object is returned and saved into db for further use,
otherwise, db is set to None. Next, the db object is used to create a
cursor object, which in turn is used to execute SQL queries. Finally,
before coming out, it ensures that the database connection is closed
and resources are released.

Creating a Database Table

Once a database connection is established, we are ready to create
tables or records into the database using the execute method of the
created cursor.

Following code creates a database table “Employee”:

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

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db =
MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST
DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

# Drop table if it already exist using execute()

method.

cursor.execute("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS EMPLOYEE")

# Create table as per requirement

sql = """CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE (

FIRST_NAME CHAR(20) NOT NULL,

LAST_NAME CHAR(20),

AGE INT,

SEX CHAR(1),
INCOME FLOAT )"""

cursor.execute(sql)

# disconnect from server

db.close()

INSERT Operation
It is required when you want to create your records into a database
table. The following example, executes SQL INSERT statement to
create a record into EMPLOYEE table:

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

db =
MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST
DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

# Prepare SQL query to INSERT a record into the

database.

sql = """INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE(FIRST_NAME,

LAST_NAME, AGE, SEX, INCOME)

VALUES ('Mac', 'Mohan', 20, 'M', 2000)"""

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try:

# Execute the SQL command

cursor.execute(sql)

# Commit your changes in the database

db.commit()

except:

# Rollback in case there is any error

db.rollback()

# disconnect from server

db.close()

READ Operation
READ operation on any database means to fetch some useful
information from the database. Once your database connection is
established, you are ready to make a query into this database. You
can use either fetchone() method to fetch a single record or
fetchall() method to fetch multiple values from a database table.

fetchone(): It fetches the next row of a query result

set. A result set is an object that is returned when a
cursor object is used to query a table.
fetchall(): It fetches all the rows in a result set. If
some rows have already been extracted from the result
set, then it retrieves the remaining rows from the result
set.
rowcount: This is a read-only attribute and returns
the number of rows that were affected by an execute()
method.

The following code queries all the records from EMPLOYEE table
having salary more than 1000:

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

db =

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MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST
DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

sql = "SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE \

WHERE INCOME > '%d'" % (1000)

try:

# Execute the SQL command

cursor.execute(sql)

# Fetch all the rows in a list of lists.

results = cursor.fetchall()

for row in results:

fname = row[0]

lname = row[1]

age = row[2]

sex = row[3]

income = row[4]
# Now print fetched result

print
"fname=%s,lname=%s,age=%d,sex=%s,income=%d" % \

(fname, lname, age, sex, income )

except:

print "Error: unable to fecth data"

# disconnect from server

db.close()

UPDATE Operation
UPDATE operation on any database means to update one or more
records, which are already available in the database. The following
code updates all the records having SEX as ‘M’ by increasing AGE by
one year.

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

db =
MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST

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DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

# Prepare SQL query to UPDATE required records

sql = "UPDATE EMPLOYEE SET AGE = AGE + 1

WHERE SEX = '%c'" % ('M')

try:

# Execute the SQL command

cursor.execute(sql)

# Commit your changes in the database

db.commit()

except:

# Rollback in case there is any error

db.rollback()

# disconnect from server

db.close()

DELETE Operation
It is required when you want to delete some records from your
database. Following is the code to delete all the records from
EMPLOYEE where AGE is more than 20:

import MySQLdb

# Open database connection

db =
MySQLdb.connect("localhost","testuser","test123","TEST
DB" )

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

cursor = db.cursor()

# Prepare SQL query to DELETE required records

sql = "DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE > '%d'" % (20)

try:

# Execute the SQL command

cursor.execute(sql)

# Commit your changes in the database

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db.commit()

except:

# Rollback in case there is any error

db.rollback()

# disconnect from server

db.close()

COMMIT Operation
Commit is the operation, which gives a green signal to a database to
finalize the changes, and after this operation, no change can be
reverted. The following code is used to perform commit operation:

db.commit()

ROLLBACK Operation
If you are not satisfied with one or more of the changes and you
want to revert those changes completely, then you can use the
rollback() method. The following code will perform the rollback
operation.

db.rollback()

Disconnecting the Database

To disconnect the Database connection, you can use the close()
method:

db.close()

If the connection to a database is closed by the user with the close()

method, any outstanding transactions are rolled back by the
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database. However, instead of depending on any of the database

lower-level implementation details, your application would be better
off calling commit or rollback explicitly.

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