PostgreSQL Python Tutorial

August 17, 2024

This PostgreSQL Python section shows you how to work with the PostgreSQL database using the Python programming language.

Python has various database drivers for PostgreSQL. Currently, the psycopg is the most popular PostgreSQL database adapter for the Python language. The psycopg fully implements the Python DB-API 2.0 specification.

The current version of the psycopg is 2 or psycopg2. The psycopg2 database adapter implemented in C as a libpq wrapper resulting in both fast and secure. The psycopg2 provides many useful features such as client-side and server-side cursors, asynchronous notification and communication, COPY command support, etc.

Besides, the psycopg2 driver supports many Python types out-of-the-box. The psycopg2 matches Python objects to the PostgreSQL data types, e.g., list to the array, tuples to records, and dictionary to hstore. If you want to customize and extend the type adaption, you can use a flexible object adaption system.

This PostgreSQL Python section covers the most common activities for interacting with PostgreSQL in Python application:

For demonstration purposes, we will use the suppliers sample database. The following picture illustrates the structure of the suppliers database:

PostgreSQL Python Sample Database Diagram

The suppliers database has the following tables:

  1. vendors table: stores vendor data.
  2. parts table: stores parts data.
  3. parts_drawings table: stores the drawing of a part.
  4. vendor_parts table: stores the data of which parts supplied by which vendor.