Overview
Let’s learn about Python Database API in this tutorial. The Python Database API (DB-API) is a standard interface for Python modules that access databases.
Python provides a standard interface for interacting with relational databases. This API defines a set of standard methods and conventions for database connectivity, allowing Python programs to interact with various database management systems using a consistent approach.
Python Database API
The Python Database API provides a standard mechanism for programming various back-end database management systems (DBMS), like :
- MySQL
- SQLite
- PostgreSQL, etc.
The DB-API defines a set of standard methods and exceptions that can be used with different database systems. The API allows Python programmers to write portable code across databases and platforms. The process you follow in your code is the same regardless of which database the application uses to store and retrieve data.
Python Modules
Some commonly used modules that implement the Python Database API are as follows:
| Python Database Module | Backend Database |
| sqlite3 | To access SQLite Database. |
| MySQLdb | To access MySQL Database. |
| psycopg2 | To access the PostgreSQL Database. |
| cx_Oracle | To access Oracle Database. |
The PEP 249( Python Enhancement Proposal ) standard has been widely adopted by Python database interface modules, allowing developers to write code that can work with various databases without significant modifications. The Python database modules like sqlite3, psycopg2, etc, adhere to the PEP 249 specification. It provides a SQL interface designed to encourage and maintain the similarity between the Python modules that access databases.
The general steps in working with databases are as follows:
- Import the Database Module.
- Connect to the Database.
- Create a Cursor.
- Execute SQL Queries.
- Fetch Data or Commit Changes.
- Close the DB Connection.
The connect function is used to establish a connection to a database. The connection object has a cursor method that returns a cursor object. The cursor is used to execute SQL commands and fetch results. The connection object provides methods commit() and rollback() to control transactions.
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Python Tutorials
Python Tutorial on this website can be found at:
https://www.testingdocs.com/python-tutorials/
More information on Python is available at the official website: